


With or Without You

by lumos2503



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Abusive Lucius Malfoy, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Auror Harry Potter, Birthday, Blow Jobs, Caring, Childhood Trauma, Daddy Kink, Dark Mark (Harry Potter), Dirty Talk, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Family, Fear, Friendship, Harry Potter is a Good Boyfriend, Healer Draco Malfoy, Idiots in Love, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Light Angst, Living Together, Love, M/M, Nightmares, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Child Abuse, Person of Color Harry Potter, Rimming, Rough Sex, Smoking, Smut, Spanking, Tattooed Harry Potter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-07
Updated: 2019-05-09
Packaged: 2020-01-06 08:41:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18384923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lumos2503/pseuds/lumos2503
Summary: Harry and Draco are a couple since 4 years, living together in a small cottage in Ireland, finally happy with their lives after everything they've been through. They have great friends, a great family... and each other ♥But then something happens that threatens to destroy the perfect life they have built together and presents them with challenges that are greater than anything they have ever had to face...*Please note: I don't want to spoil you guys, so I will add further tags while uploading new chapters*





	1. Coming Home

**1\. Chapter: Coming Home**

 

Draco apparated with a bang in front of the small cottage in the beautiful Irish countryside and eagerly breathed in the clean air. The city noise of London seemed even louder when he knew how quiet it could be out here.

He put the key into the lock and opened the dark wooden door. He had had an exhausting shift. The new healers in training he had to teach at the ward for potions and poisonings shattered his nerves. Fortunately he had a free day tomorrow!

The blond man always felt a little melancholy when he came into the empty house. Here so far out with only a few houses hundreds of meters away it could be pretty lonely, but he had chosen it that way. Sighing, he made himself a cup of tea and turned on the radio to banish the silence from the rooms and his heart.

Even the cat, which he had bought so he wouldn't be alone all the time, was absent. Ungrateful creature. Why did one bring a little company into the house when it was only on the road hunting mice?

Draco didn't like being alone. That's been going on for far too long now. But that was the way it was.

With the hot cup of tea he went to the terrace and let his gaze wander over the green meadows and fields. It was unusually warm for April. He hadn't been jogging for so long. He could visit the lake at the foot of the range of hills soon. A quiet rattling out of the house made Draco sit up and take notice. Surely Sammy, the pitch-black cat, had just come in through the cat flap and demanded his dinner. Then he could also make his own dinner, the healer decided and went back inside.

 ***

He came out of the living room into the hallway, uttered a surprised scream and almost dropped his cup. In front of the wardrobe stood a handsome black-haired man in a dark blue and gold uniform.

"Harry!" Draco shouted joyfully and threw himself at his boyfriend.

He felt the other man pulling him tight and burying his face on Draco's neck. "Damn, baby, I missed you so much..." he muttered and kissed the soft, light skin of his lover.

"I missed you too, infinitely even!" Draco ran his hand into the soft black hair and inhaled the familiar smell of Harry's shampoo and battle smoke.

They kissed slowly and tenderly and Draco felt the butterflies flutter in his belly. He was still as in love as he was four years ago...

Draco fumbled with one hand for the light switch and then held his boyfriend at a distance to be able to look more closely at him. "You are back early. Are you all right? Do you need anything?"

Harry looked damn tired, but satisfied. Some sooty smear and a small scratch were drawn over his cheek and his robe had a small hole in the front. "We were able to complete the mission faster than expected. Connor was hit in the head pretty hard when we grabbed the perpetrators, but we managed to get him fixed quickly. I'm just so exhausted and happy to be with you again."

"I'm glad you're back, too. I hate being alone for so long." Draco sulked a little and pulled Harry again into a tight hug, his arms tightly pressed to Harry's sides.

The black haired one quickly sucked in the air between his teeth and groaned quietly.

"Aha," Draco exclaimed triumphantly. "So, what is it? You promised me you would tell me everything!"

Harry had learned all sorts of useful little healing spells from Draco in those four years, but he was still prone to injuries.

"Darling, I swear, it's nothing. Just a few bruises and scratches."

Draco did not let himself be put off and walked around the smaller man. Harry was wobbling with exhaustion in the meantime. The blonde carefully pulled the robe from his shoulders and then pushed his shirt up. The right side below the dragon tattoo was blue and purple swollen.

"Is everything okay with the ribs?," Draco asked and palpated the warm skin.

"Think so, it's just - ow! - bruised."

"Come on, we'll put you in the shower and then I'll see what I can do for you."

Draco winked suggestively and Harry grinned broadly.

"Oh, Mr. Malfoy! What ideas you got in your head again!"

"You've been gone almost three weeks! I had a lot of time to imagine what I would do with you when you got back home."

 ***

Draco gently pushed Harry up the stairs to the bathroom, while the latter stumbled and unbuttoned his dark blue shirt and let it slide from his shoulders. Draco was crazy about that muscularly defined, smooth, tanned back. He bit his lower lip and saw the dragon tattoo move slightly, stretching his wings as Harry raised his arms.

"You woke him up," Draco said quietly and kissed the dragon tenderly. "He was just asleep."

The dragon on Harry's shoulder trudged once in a circle around its own axis and then rolled back together again.

The black-haired one yawned deeply. "I think he's exhausted too," Harry sighed and flinched as he bent down to take his socks off. "Could you perhaps make me a coffee, darling? Otherwise I'll fall asleep standing in the shower!"

Draco nodded and hurried into the kitchen. It was out of the question that his lover fell asleep before he had really spoiled him.

With the cup he went back to the bathroom, where Harry was already standing behind the frosted glass of the shower wall. The black haired man turned the tap on and let out a pleasant sigh, as the hot water ran down his maltreated body.

In Draco's crotch it twitched slightly. They hadn't slept together for almost three weeks and Draco had forbidden himself to lay a hand on himself to increase his lust for Harry. And by the time he opened the shower cubicle and saw his naked, shiny, wet friend in front of him, it had reached the very top.

"Shit, you look so good," slipped out of the blonde's mouth and Harry grinned blissfully as he was washing his hair with his eyes closed.

"Stop ogling at my ass and go into the bedroom. I'll be right there, my angel."

Draco took the cup of coffee from which Harry had drunk a big sip and put it on the bathroom shelf. Full of anticipation he went into the bedroom, closed the curtains and dimmed the light to a soft glow. Then he stripped bare and lay down on the huge bed. His penis was already aroused by the thought of what was to come.

A little later a freshly showered, naked man with wet hair stepped into the bedroom. Harry had been wearing his hair shorter again for two years, which Draco found a little unfortunate, but the beard had also become a little shorter, which he liked better.

Harry's gaze fell on Draco, who stretched himself naked in bed and he licked his full lips.

"Gods, I really missed that," the Auror groaned.

"Then what are you waiting for?" Draco returned.

Harry flinched again as he crawled onto the bed. He rubbed over his blue bruised side and sighed softly.

"Lie down, sweetheart. I'll take care of you."

With a soft mumble Harry let himself sink carefully backwards into the pillows. Draco angled his magic wand from the bedside table and spoke a pain-relieving spell over the ribs. Now he could finally devote himself to his lover.

Quickly their mouths met and they kissed greedily. Their hands were everywhere, stroking the warm skin. Draco lay down on his muscular partner and both groaned as their naked erections met. He nibbled on Harry's sensitive neck and drove his wet lips further and further down. The fresh scent of the bronze skin almost fogged Draco's mind. He placed little kisses on Harry's entire upper body and drove his slender hands over the soft skin. The black haired man trembled and purred contentedly.

"You know, sometimes you sound like Sammy," Draco teased as his mouth wandered deeper and deeper.

Harry's huge cock grew visibly as Draco drove his tongue along the narrow path of black hair under his belly button. The blonde nibbled and sucked on the soft skin in the groin and Harry's breath accelerated. His big hands dug into Draco's light blonde hair as he put wet kisses up to the base of the penis. He drove his palms over the hip bones and let his fingernails glide a little over the sides of his firm butt. Harry's erection was already shining red with unfulfilled lust.

"Put it in your mouth, baby."

Draco obeyed immediately. He loved Harry's deep voice, his dominance and his self-confidence. The blonde quickly grabbed the bobbing cock in front of his nose with his whole hand and licked with his tongue over the underside and the tip, where already a first drop of white liquid was pouring out. A loud groan escaped Harry and he jerked his hips upwards uncontrollably, pushing himself even deeper into Draco's mouth, who finally took him in completely.

"Oh, yes! Fuck!"

The pleasant pull on the back of Draco's head intensified. Greedily he let the hard cock slide in and out of his mouth with wet noises. He loved the bitter, male taste of his lover. With one hand he milked the bulging shaft, with the other he played with Harry's sensitive balls. He moved his head up and down faster and faster. Harry's hoarse moaning turned him on so incredibly. He loved it when Harry was in control, but sometimes he enjoyed it very much when he could get him to drop himself and just surrender to his lust.

"Merlin, Draco! Fuck, keep going!"

Harry cursed and twitched and held the blonde's head in position with an iron grip. He pulled his legs up, knees towards his chest, which was Draco's signal to use the one hand from his balls elsewhere. He briefly released the throbbing cock from his mouth and instead slid two fingers in, wetting them with spit. Then he quickly took the cock between his sucking lips again. He played with the little slit and sucked and licked like crazy. The moaning that rewarded him was deep and rough and music in Draco's ears. He stroked his saliva wet fingers over Harry's exposed crevice. Carefully he pressed against the tight hole, circled the sensitive skin and let a slippery finger slide in.

"Fuck," Harry screamed hoarse as he immediately thrusted his hips and shot a huge load of hot sperm into Draco's throat.

"That was quick", Draco thought to himself. He pressed his finger a little deeper into Harry's hot ass and swallowed everything he got in his mouth. Draco moved his fingers even deeper into Harry's tight hole, finding his prostate. He let his lips wander over the shiny red glans and Harry trembled and groaned because of this overstimulation.

"Shit, stop it! I - I can't..." wheezed the black-haired man trying to elude Draco's mouth.

With one last deep suck, the blonde healer released his boyfriend's twitching cock and pulled his finger out of his hole. Panting and sweating, Harry stretched out all his limbs and gasped for air.

"Oh, God! That was awesome, baby. You are so fantastic, my wonderful angel. What are you doing to me? I'm completely done..." stammered the Auror and stretched out his arm groping to pull Draco to him.

Draco's neck hair stood up when he heard the praise and he hummed contentedly. The slender man snuggled up to Harry, eager to finally get some release for his already painfully aroused cock.

"Three weeks is just too long! I need you now," he whispered into his ear.

Demandingly he kissed Harry's neck and nibbled on his earlobe. At the same time he wrapped his long arms around the muscular upper body and rubbed his crotch against Harry's thigh.

"I'm so hard, Daddy, please take me!" Draco felt Harry shudder at the nickname and press himself towards him. He didn't always call him "Daddy", but when he did, Harry immediately jumped on it and Draco loved it.

The black haired man laid a large hand on the slender neck of his lover, who immediately bent his back. Harry tensed his fingers and Draco gasped.

"You want me to fuck you, don't you?" he growled into the blonde's ear.

With a firm hand he reached for Draco's incredibly hard erection. The young healer whimpered and pressed greedily against the strong hands.

"Then beg for it, baby..."

"Please, Harry! Please fuck me!" Draco whimpered.

"Again, baby boy."

"Daddy, please... please, please, gods, take me," Draco sobbed and tried to thrust into Harry's hand, but he held him down.

"Merlin, you are so incredibly sexy. Begging so beautifully for me..." Harry purred into Draco's ear.

Draco moaned. Big warm hands grabbed him by the hip and turned him on his stomach.

"Kneel."

Draco immediately obeyed, stretched his firm butt out to his boyfriend and leaned on his knees and forearms. A slap with the flat hand against his cheeks made him sigh excitedly.

"Yes, more, Daddy! Please..."

Another slap and Draco jerked forward.

"Your tight little ass is so hot, baby...", growled Harry and scattered little kisses on the pale skin on Draco's buttocks.

Harry's strong fingers grabbed Draco's ass, kneaded it and pulled the cheeks a little apart. The blonde groaned as he felt his lover's wet tongue on his sensitive hole. Gently it circled over the wrinkly rim and Draco's hole helplessly clenched around nothing. Harry licked a wide strip from his heavy balls to his tailbone and Draco bit into the pillow.

"Uuuhhnnngg..." Draco couldn't think anymore, he needed more and needed it right now.

Harry seemed to understand him, was too impatient himself, finally wanted to taste his lover. He penetrated him with his tongue and a long scream escaped Draco's throat. He licked the sensitive skin faster and faster, pushed his tongue into the tight hole, which slowly relaxed. Draco clawed his hands into the bed sheet and breathed only intermittently being so thoroughly fucked by his lover's tongue. He had to come now! More, _more_...

"More!" he begged.

Another hart slap on the already reddened butt cheek followed. Damn, Draco was as wanton as he hadn't been in a long time. The tongue disappeared from his ass and he howled in disappointment. He heard noises from the bedside table and shortly afterwards he felt his pink hole being coated with cool gel. Harry didn't think twice. He took two fingers at once and pushed them up to the hilt into Draco. The blonde screamed at the sudden burning pleasure and threw his head up. Immediately a hand gripped his blond hair and held him in that position. His head bent back, his back arched, his ass pressed against Harry's hand. Just for a second the darker man gave the other time to accustom to his fingers, then he began to thrust relentlessly into him.

"Fuck, fuck, yes!" Draco's moaning and screaming was ringing in his own ears.

Quickly a third finger was added and Harry's erection had long since grown back to its full size. Draco knew that he couldn't wait to fuck his partner. Three fucking weeks were just too long!

Harry let go of the blond head of hair and pulled his fingers out of Draco's ass. He sobbed disappointed, but he knew what was coming. Again he heard Harry handling the lubricant and knew he was rubbing his enormous cock. He couldn't wait any longer, _please_... Suddenly the wet fingers grabbed Draco's penis and wiped the rest of the gel in circular movements over the already dripping glans.

"Fuck me! Please, Harry, _please_..." the blonde whimpered with trembling knees.

"God, baby! I'll fuck you so hard you'll beg for mercy," Harry growled deep in his throat and slowly pressed his cock into Draco's tight hole.

"Fuck, Daddy! Give me more," Draco groaned.

He was so full, so stretched and so full... He would tear apart right away. His arms trembled violently and Harry stroked his lover's sweat-covered back with his warm palms.

Finally he was inside and Draco felt so full and horny that he had to pull himself together not to come straightaway. He loved this feeling of surrendering to Harry, being trapped in those strong arms. The black beard tickled Draco's back as the Auror nibbled on his shoulder and bite tenderly.

"How do you want it, baby?" Harry growled. "Slow and deep?"

He almost withdrew completely and pushed torturously slowly back into him, stroking Draco's aroused prostate. Draco whimpered and twitched.

"Or rather like this?" He grabbed Draco's narrow hips tightly and thrusted into him five times at high speed and stopped immediately.

Draco almost sobbed when it stopped, so desperately looking for salvation.

"Tell me, baby..." Harry bit his back hard now and Draco gasped. "How do you want it?"

"Please... please...", Draco whimpered and tried to push his butt back, but the black haired man held him tightly.

"You have to express yourself more clearly, my sweetheart..." Harry purred against the pale skin. He gleefully let his tongue glide over Draco's coccyx, who shuddered and trembled and sucked the air in.

"Fast," the blonde cried. "Fast and hard and dirty, Daddy!"

Finally, finally! Harry began to thrust quickly into him and Draco screamed.

"Oh, yeeessss!"

Harry's deep groaning filled the room and almost drove the blonde into madness of lust. Draco bit his lower lip to hold back his hot sperm, which was already gathering in his loins. He was so hot for Harry, but he didn't want to come yet, didn't want it to be over.

"Shit, baby, you're so tight," Harry gasped and slapped his flat hand on Draco's ass again.

The sharp pain alone was almost enough to make Draco come. He whimpered and his arms buckled. Harry's strong fingers were in his neck immediately and gently pushed him down. Draco's legs gave way, he now lay flat on the bed and immediately the muscular body was above him. The feet to the right and left of Draco's ass he had now changed the angle so that he could push even better against this sensitive spot in Draco's ass. He continued to fuck him relentlessly and Draco moaned so loudly that his throat almost hurt.

"Merlin, yes, Daddy! Yes, take me... OOOH GOD!"

"Come for me, baby! I want you to come! Just from my hard cock in your perfect little ass!"

Harry's voice was rough and trembled with effort. Even though it didn't seem possible, the black haired man took on even more speed and banged so hard into his blonde lover that his balls beat violently against his firm bottom.

"I - FUCK! I’m coming! Yesss!"

And Draco came. He threw his head back and screamed as he pumped a huge load between himself and the mattress without even touching his hard cock once. Harry's further hits on his prostate let him see stars.

The blonde trembled and twitched and Harry continued panting, teasing his hypersensitive prostate. Draco moaned and bit his lower lip until he tasted blood to prevent himself from going crazy. Finally the black haired man thrusted his thick cock deep into Draco, held it there and filled his ass with hot sperm. The blonde shivered. Even his nerves seemed to tremble. In his head everything spun and he seemed to float.

"Merlin, Draco," Harry gasped out of breath and let himself sink on his boyfriend's slender body with shaky arms.

Exhausted, he pressed his full lips into Draco's neck and purred again like a cat.

"Are you all right?," Harry asked worriedly when Draco didn't react.

The healer's heart was still beating violently against his ribs and he could only nod.

"C'mere, darling."

Harry pulled his penis out of Draco and both sighed. Then he slipped from Draco’s back and lay down on his side. Tenderly Harry pulled his lover’s slender body with his back first to himself and wrapped his arms around his chest. Draco felt Harry placing one hand on the spot where his heart pounded furiously fast and the other gently stroked through his sweaty hair.

"I got you. Baby, that was incredible," muttered the Auror.

Draco shuddered as Harry lovingly scratched his neck, all the nerve endings were still so sensitive that he flinched at the slightest touch.

"Is everything okay? Turn around, baby..."

Draco had the feeling that his muscles would hardly obey him. He shrugged as he felt his more than sore ass. Whimpering, he let himself sink against his boyfriend's strong chest and buried his face on the smooth skin.

"Did I break you?," Harry asked with a mixture of amusement and serious concern.

Draco nodded his head and grinned tiredly at the black-haired man.

"Your lip," Harry muttered and a deep crease appeared on his forehead as he looked at the drops of blood.

With a trembling hand the blonde dabbed his mouth. "Oops", he just mumbled.

"What have you done, my angel? You have to take care of yourself," Harry grumbled and gently dabbed his thumb over Draco's bleeding lip.

Draco gratefully laid his slender fingers on the bearded cheek.

"I just had to pull myself together, keeping me from coming right away when you shoved your beautiful hard cock into me, I must have bitten it a bit too hard."

"Was I too hard on you?"

Draco shook his head, put his hands in Harry's neck and whispered in his ear: "You know you can never be too hard on me. It was so fantastic! Your huge cock felt so good in me, oh god, I get hard again when I think about it! I came so hard, I thought I was going crazy!"

Harry sighed slightly aroused. "Shit, baby... I missed you so much."

They kissed, slowly and tenderly, with caressing hands and nestled skin. Draco felt infinitely comfortable in the soft bed and the strong arms of his lover. He laid his head against his broad chest. Slowly he noticed fatigue and exhaustion creeping into his limbs.

"Shall we take a shower?" Harry mumbled sleepily.

"Yes, but too weak...," Draco complained, who actually didn't like it when he woke up the next morning all sweaty and sticky.

"C’mere... I'll take care of you, baby boy."

The bed moved and Draco felt Harry lifting him into his arms with incredible ease. Tired, the blonde wrapped his arms and legs around him and let himself be carried into the warm shower. When Harry finally put them both to bed and covered their naked with a huge blanket, Draco was almost asleep.

"I love you, Draco," was all he heard before dozing off with a smile on his lips.


	2. Free Days at the Lake

**2\. Chapter Free days at the lake**

 

Draco woke up and felt wonderful. The sun shone in softly through the curtains of their bedroom and bathed the room in dim light. He looked beside him and saw Harry's relaxed face half buried under the covers. His soft black hair fell into his forehead and Draco gently stroked it back. A contented smile spread across his face. Finally he had his sweetheart back. He let the gaze wander over the naked upper body of the other. Harry slept mostly on his stomach, so Draco had a good view of his shoulders and back today as well. He loved the sight. The toned muscles under the darker skin. The black dragon on the shoulder blade was already thoroughly cleaning his wings. Soon he would stretch out again and then wind his way over Harry's half back over his shoulder to his upper arm. So he had been drawn and so he spent most of his time on his master's back.

Carefully, not to wake the sleeping Auror, Draco peeled himself out of the blankets and went to the toilet. His butt was pinching a little bit from last night, but it had definitely been worth it. He washed his face briefly and brushed his teeth. In the bedroom he quietly put on one of Harry's soft pyjama pants that were a little too wide around his slender hip. Barefoot he went down the narrow stairs of their old cottage and went into the kitchen. It was small but modern, much more modern than the rest of the house, with all the muggle gimmicks Harry had insisted on. Peacefully, he put a pot of coffee on and browsed a little in the Daily Prophet that the morning owl had brought. Draco loved the days off together with Harry. He himself would have to work again tomorrow morning, but his love had a few days off after the mission abroad. Harry deserved the peace and quiet. He had to be totally exhausted.

Draco felt that he was terribly hungry. During his shifts in the hospital he didn't eat much and last night he hadn't got to it either. The blonde healer had just decided to make breakfast for them both, when he heard a noise behind him. Harry was standing in the doorway wearing only boxer shorts. He smiled tiredly and then ran his hands through the wonderfully disheveled hair, yawning loudly.

"Good morning, baby," he murmured and stretched his upper body.

Draco had to be careful not to start drooling at the sight of the stretching and flexing muscles. Harry turned 28 this summer, but he was still in top form.

He walked up to him and offered him a fresh cup of coffee.

"Good morning," Draco replied quietly and pressed his lips to those of his boyfriend.

He tasted lightly of toothpaste and Draco felt his smile against his lips as their tongues played gently with each other. His lover's warm hand lay on the small of his back and pulled him towards him, so that their naked upper bodies touched. Harry gently kissed Draco's neck, who giggled and twitched as the black beard tickled him.

"It's nice to be home," the Auror mumbled into his ear in a sleepy voice. "And do you know what's the best thing about it?"

Draco shook his head and at the same time bent it back so that Harry's soft lips could better reach his neck. He sighed as he felt the gentle nibbling.

"That you're making breakfast."

Laughing, Harry bit into Draco's pale skin when the healer indignantly shouted "Hey!" and tried to push him away with a flat hand on his chest.

Harry's green eyes flashed cheekily. The blonde loved the little laughter lines around the sparkling emeralds when his friend laughed as openly as he did now.

"You're lucky I'm _really_ hungry, you wretched Gryffindor," Draco snarled and couldn't hide a grin.

 ***

Draco actually made breakfast while Harry set the table and apparently had nothing better to do than distract his friend by nibbling on his earlobe.

"That's enough!" Draco laughed. "Otherwise you won't get anything to eat!"

They sat down and started having breakfast. Spring had just come, the flowers sprouted out in their extensive garden and many crocuses were already sticking their heads out of the ground on the meadow. The sun shone warmly from a clear sky and a mild wind swept over the fields. Perfect weather for a jog, Draco thought.

"Teddy will be happy that you made it home so early," the blonde remarked after drinking his coffee. "You know it's his birthday tomorrow, don't you?" he added, as Harry looked at a loss for a moment.

"Oh, yes. Of course I know when it's my godson's birthday!

Draco only raised one eyebrow. "Anyway," he continued. "Andromeda invited us all for coffee. Ron and Hermione are coming with Rose and I think my mother is coming too. I don't know exactly who will be there. I suppose a whole bunch of Weasleys…"

"Nice! I'm looking forward to it," smiled the black-haired man. "Say, do we have a -"

"Yes, darling, we have a present!" Draco giggled. "After Teddy lost so devastatingly to Ron at Christmas, he wished for his own chess set."

"Well, he shouldn't have messed with Ron," Harry grinned back. "Did he tell the story again that he had already defeated McGonagall's game when he was 11?"

 ***

They finished their breakfast in peace and thought about what they should do together on their day off.

"We could jog down to the lake and have a little picnic, just the two of us," Draco suggested, wiggling his eyebrows.

"So, just the two of us," Harry asked mischievously. "Then we could stay in bed all day..."

"Come on, I wanna get out a bit," Draco urged.

"Then we can apparate and save ourselves the running!”

"What's going on? Normally you also like to go out and move a bit in the fresh air", Draco replied without understanding. Then something occurred to him: "Is it the knee?"

Harry nodded contritely.

"Merlin, just say that your knee hurts you again and that's why you don't feel like jogging for an hour." Draco rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Why don't you ever tell me when you're in pain or hurt?"

The black haired one shrugged with his bare shoulders. "I don't want you to worry, I guess."

"And you don't want me to think you're weak." Draco stepped around the table and pulled his boyfriend's fuzzy head to his flat stomach. "We're in a relationship, damn it. I want to know, if something is not right, is that clear?"

Harry wrapped his arms around his hip and nodded against Draco’s belly.

"Good. And now come into the bathroom, I've got another injection here."

"Oh, no", groaned the Auror.

"Oh, yes, I do," the healer replied severely.

Harry reluctantly let himself be dragged along, limped up the stairs behind Draco and sat down on the edge of the bathtub. A little over a year ago, he had smashed his right knee in a mission so badly that even magic couldn't completely heal it. To some extent Draco and his colleagues had got him back on his feet, and with a lot of training and muscle exercises he was able to move almost as well as before. But he still had, sometimes more, sometimes less, pain, and then he couldn't move the joint as easily. Then, three quarters of a year ago, Draco had developed a potion that he could inject into his joint with a syringe in a very unpleasant procedure and which relieved the pain and made the joint flexible again. The last injection had been given to Harry 6 weeks ago and the last mission had put a lot of strain on him, so the pain had returned quite intense. Yesterday evening he had forgotten it first because of his tiredness, then didn't feel it because of his lust and desire, but this morning when waking up, he was painfully reminded of it.

From his medicine cabinet Draco pulled out a syringe with a long needle in which a pale violet potion shimmered. Harry was already cringing at the sight of this thing, which was to be driven right into his leg. The blonde healer looked down at him compassionately and stroked his back in a soothing way. He could imagine how disgusting it must feel to be stabbed in the knee with a pointed metal tube.

"Oh, Harry. I'm really sorry. But you know it's better after that!"

"Yes, _afterwards_! But that doesn't make it any more pleasant," the other rumbled in a dark voice.

Impatiently the Auror waved his hand. He finally wanted to have it over with. Draco knelt on the carpet in front of his naked, bronze legs and handed Harry a towel. He could cling to it and claw his fingers into it. Otherwise he would cling to Draco and he needed a steady hand to work.

"Ready, dear?"

Harry nodded grimly, closed his eyes and pressed his lips firmly together. He clenched his fists around the towel and held his breath. Draco carefully palpated the right spot, then put the needle on and carefully stabbed it through the skin. Harry gasped and growled louder and louder as Draco pushed the needle deeper.

"Easy, darling, it'll be over soon."

"Fuck," the Auror pressed between clenched teeth as Draco slowly pushed the plunger down and injected the potion into the joint.

Harry's left leg began to tremble uncontrollably and Draco had trouble keeping the right with the syringe inside calm. With a slender hand, he held the thigh tight and simultaneously sat on Harry's foot, chest against shin, to keep the knee still. He hated it when his partner was in pain, but he had to stay professional.

Finally the whole potion had disappeared into Harry's flesh and Draco could pull out the needle. The black haired man sighed relieved and let his head hang. With one hand Draco pressed a finger on the puncture site to hold the potion in place, with the other he stroked calmingly over Harry's hairy thighs.

"It's about to get better, you'll see," he muttered.

After two minutes Draco rose from Harry's foot and the dark-haired man bent and stretched his leg to see if the potion had worked.

"And? Better already?" Draco asked, threw the syringe into the trash and washed his hands.

Harry nodded. "Thank you, baby. What would I do without you?"

Draco laughed quietly. "I think you would have long since buried your head in the sand..."

 ***

In the end, Draco got his way. He put on tight running pants, knowing that Harry would be staring at his ass all the time and put on a light sweater. Harry, on the other hand, usually wore shorts and a T-shirt when they went for a run. Draco shrunk two bottles of water, a picnic blanket and two apples and stuffed everything into the pocket of his sweater. Slowly they trotted off, but quickly the pace picked up. Soon there was nothing more to hear but their steady breathing and the sound of the sneakers on the dirt road. Draco loved this weather to run. It wasn't so warm that one immediately started to sweat and the pleasant wind lay cool on his cheeks. Once in motion, the way down to the lake was not particularly challenging. They were both in pretty good shape, Draco perhaps even better than his friend, who relied more on strength training. Slowly it became more strenuous and Draco grinned at Harry over his shoulder, who was running behind him and stared like possessed at his bum in the tight leggings and was now a bit out of breath.

After about 50 minutes they had arrived at the lakeside and slowed the pace until they reached "their" lonely bay, a small sheltered clearing between high bushes that ran directly into the water and could not be seen from the path.

Panting, they stopped and catched their breath. Draco took the blanket and the water out of his pocket and enlarged everything to normal dimensions. They drank greedily and slowly their heartbeat calmed down again.

"It's so beautiful here," Harry murmured quietly, looking out at the lake where the sun was reflected. "I'm so glad that we moved here!"

They had moved into Draco's small apartment quite quickly after starting dating about 4 years ago. Harry had the house at Grimmauld Place, but he didn't like living there. The memories of all those he had lost were too strong. Almost two years ago, when they had decided that Draco's apartment was too small for the two of them, they had found the old cottage out here in Ireland. Harry had fallen in love directly and it didn't take Draco long to appreciate the cozy house and the secluded tranquility away from the noise and hustle and bustle of the city. They had both really had enough fuss for a lifetime. In addition, the press had besieged them in an incredibly penetrating way when, after more than a year, they had finally made the relationship public in the magical community. Draco had hardly been able to leave the house without having one or the other photographer on his hands. They had quickly dug up the old Death Eater stories and when Harry had seen how much it burdened his beloved, he had banned all negative reports about them both in a proper word of command.

To really find some peace, they had looked around for houses in the country and finally decided on the cottage where they now lived. It had been empty for a few years, but they had enough money and ambition to turn it into their dream home. Now it was the perfect mix of modern and cozy without being too clean or too old-fashioned. Natural wood, white, sand-colored and light blue dominated the interior, along with a bit of electrical bells and whistles, like a television that had actually made its way into the wizarding world.

 ***

Like every time after running, Draco began to stretch and Harry only half-heartedly joined in. Draco had just stretched his thighs by placing his feet wide apart and bending as low as possible as he felt something on his buttocks. He shrieked in shock as something warm stroked through the thin fabric of his leggings.

"Harry," he puffed out as he realized it was his boyfriend's semi-hard penis pushing through his running shorts.

"Baby, you can't hold your perfect butt in these pants in front of my nose and expect me not to get hard right away," growled Harry.

Draco turned around and immediately the Auror's full lips lay on his. He was pushed back and down until he lay with his back on the blanket in the soft grass. Harry's lips, now sucking on his neck, made him moan softly. And the hand that lay on his massive bulge in his tight pants made Draco moan even louder. He was just groping his hand for his wand to place a muffliato over the clearing as Harry held him by the arm.

"I know what you're up to, but it's much funnier that way," he whispered mischievously against Draco's ear.

The blonde shuddered. "And what if someone comes by? They will hear us!"

"Then you just have to be quiet, baby,' Harry replied lightly and bit into the sensitive skin under Draco's ear, which elicited a gasp from him.

Be quiet? That was almost impossible for Draco. But on the other hand he was excited by the thrill that someone could catch them.

"Fuck, Potter... You are..."

"Just adorable, I'm sure you were about to say..." the black-haired man laughed quietly as he pulled Draco's sweater over his head and his pants down.

Wet kisses made his pale skin burn. Harry's naked body above him felt so warm and firm; the lubed fingers he had now sunk into Draco's ass were constantly tickling his prostate. When he finally felt the hard cock on his now widened hole, he had to bite his hand to suppress a loud moan.

They loved each other slowly and intensely. Harry over Draco, pushed into him with deep, calm thrusts, his eyes half closed with pleasure and his breath flat. Mutually, they suffocated their moans and sighs with kisses. Draco buried one hand in Harry's black hair and took his own cock in his hand with the other. In the same rhythm with the strokes against his prostate, he moved his hand up and down and noticed how the pleasure grew bigger and bigger with each movement. It threatened to flood him and Harry's arms also began to tremble. The Auror pulled his face with exertion and lust, biting his lips to avoid screaming.

"Come for me..." Draco whispered breathlessly against his lips and Harry came deep inside him with a deep groan that he hadn't been able to suppress.

The pulsating cock in his hole, still pushing against him, also sent Draco over the cliff. He trembled as he poured over his hand and stomach as Harry rode out his orgasm with panting breath.

It took a while until they both came down from their high again. Tenderly caressing and kissing, they lay in each other's arms. It was just perfect. The gentle relaxation by the loving sex, the sun, which was particularly warm here on her windless clearing, the bird twittering in the trees...

"Harry, I love you so endlessly," Draco mumbled quietly and looked his boyfriend in the incredibly green eyes.

Harry looked back a long time, seemed to drown in Draco's grey eyes. An almost sad smile spread over the bearded face. Harry took Draco in his arms and held him tight. There was so much more in this embrace, so many emotions seemed to flood the darker man that Draco couldn't help but pull him tight and soothingly stroke his black hair. Sometimes Harry would come home from a long mission and be a little emotionally stricken. The work was not easy, not even after all these years. He didn't talk about it often, but Draco knew he was afraid sometimes. Afraid for Draco and his family, afraid for himself. It sometimes happened that some missions and cases caused him more trouble than others. He once had to explain to a 5-year-old child that both his parents had been killed. After that he woke up crying at night for almost three weeks. Draco scattered gentle kisses on Harry's forehead, on his black strands, on the lightning scar.

"Did anything happen, darling?" he asked in a low voice.

"No, not really," the Auror murmured at Draco's neck. "I'm just glad that I have you. You are the best thing that ever happened to me".

For a while they held each other silently in their arms, savoring the closeness of the other. They had each other. That was all that mattered.

At some point they broke away from each other, sat up and ate the apples they had brought with them.

"Phew, it's pretty warm here," Draco groaned and stroked his sweaty hair.

" _You_ were the one who wanted to go running," his boyfriend replied cheekily. With verve he threw the apple core into the lake. Fascinated, Draco watched a lonely bead of sweat running down his brown chest.

"Yes, but I didn't think the sun was already so warm."

"I might be able to help you."

A manic grin appeared in Harry's black beard. He rose and slowly stretched out his arms to Draco.

"Harry, what are you up to?," the blonde asked skeptically and leaned back.

"You are too warm, aren't you? I just wanted to see if I could fix that," the Auror cooed.

"Ah, what are you doing?" Draco squeaked and crawled backwards as Harry reached out for him.

"Just a little cool off, my love!"

Harry's crazy grin and his sweet, soft voice almost scared Draco.

"Don't you dare, Harry," he screamed half laughing, half threatening.

Strong arms wrapped themselves around him and held him with an iron grip. Draco struggled and wriggled, laughed and squealed. He was very fit, but Harry was just stronger. With big steps the Auror approached the lake shore.

"Oh, I'm warning you, Potter! There will be consequences - stop!" Draco screamed and tried to free himself from the grip.

"Hold your breath, my angel!"

"Potter, you're crazy! Stop it now!"

Draco laughed in panic and clung to his boyfriend, who was already standing in the lake, the water reaching up to his thighs. The blonde felt Harry trying to loosen his crossed arms and legs to throw him into the lake, but Draco held on tight.

"Ha, what are you doing _now_?," he asked triumphantly.

Harry looked at him only briefly, grinned and - let himself fall.

Like a cut tree trunk both fell over. The icy water surrounded Draco like a shock and he screeched and reappeared snorting.

Harry also came up laughing and threw his head back to get the wet hair out of his face.

"Well, are you still warm?" he asked smugly and straightened up again.

Draco rubbed the water out of his eyes and coughed. "Well, you are rather cold..." he grinned with a cheeky look at Harry's naked crotch.

He let his partner pull him out of the water. The wind swept over his wet skin and made him tremble. Quickly he grabbed his wand and dried his and Harry's hair and skin. The Auror wrapped the blanket around them both and put a warming spell over them so that Draco's teeth soon stopped clattering.

"You're a little crazy, Potter," Draco smiled as they dressed again and made their way home.

"But you love me for that, don't you?" Harry grinned and threw Draco his sweater.

"Yes, and because you make me happy."


	3. Teddy's Birthday

**3\. Chapter: Teddy’s Birthday**

 

The next morning Draco got up very reluctantly. Whenever Harry came home from a longer mission and Draco had to work afterwards, it stung his heart to have to leave his boyfriend so quickly. Quietly Draco slipped out of the sheets at 6am and brushed his teeth, showered, creamed himself and styled his hair. He sneaked back into the bedroom to get dressed. It had already dawned and the first soft sunlight shone through the thick curtains. Harry lay on his stomach, his arms wrapped around his pillow, his blanket pulled down to his hips. He was a real sleepyhead. Nothing could wake him up so quickly if he slept once. Draco admired that. Harry could, if he wanted to, fall asleep anytime and anywhere within a few minutes. The blonde could see the dragon of the big tattoo sleeping and curled up on the bronze shoulder and he smiled. Like his master, he thought. Draco watched the beautiful sleeping man for a moment and a longing spread within him. A quick glance at the clock told him that he still had a few minutes left. Carefully he climbed on Harry's side of the wide double bed and snuggled naked against his back. Harry’s dark skin was warm from sleep and Draco wrapped his arms around his boyfriend. The black haired man stirred a little and sighing he pushed his way into the embrace. Draco noticed a slight twitch in his member as Harry's bottom rubbed against it.

"I have to go", the healer whispered into his partner's ear. "See you later at Teddy's, yeah? Remember to take the gift. I'll put it on the kitchen table."

Harry purred quietly as Draco kissed his warm neck.

"Teddy... gift... kitchen table..." he mumbled incoherently into the pillows and fell asleep again.

Draco rolled his eyes and pressed a kiss on Harry’s bearded cheek before he dressed, gobbled down a quick cup of coffee and a slice of toast and apparated to London. Arriving at St. Mungo, he took the stairs to the 3rd floor to the department for poisoning by potions and magical plants. He had been on this ward for almost three years now. After chief healer Ferguson had already noticed Draco's potential in his first weeks in the emergency room [for Draco working in the emergency room, read my fic “ _The Healer and the Auror_ ”], he had made an effort to get the young man into his department. And now Draco was already in charge of a small section of his own and this year for the first time entrusted with the care of the new healers in training. They were still at the very beginning and ran as a whole group of 6 witches and wizards through the different departments to get an overview. Later on they would be split up and sent through the departments for individual support so that they would receive the most extensive training possible.

Draco breathed a sigh of relief as he remembered that today was Friday and his training group had theoretical lessons. Draco didn't think much of them. Of course, they were still quite new, but for some of them it was immediately obvious that they didn't have what it took. So far he had only noticed a young, dark-skinned woman with wild curls. She had the necessary punch and a keen perception. She would certainly become a good healer.

Draco took off his clothes and put on his lime green robe. He took a look at the watch - 6:50 -, he had 10 minutes left. Some of his colleagues were already gathered in the staff room and would start the shift with him. He greeted them all friendly and poured himself a cup of coffee. Then he leaned against the small kitchen unit next to his favorite colleague Sarah.

"Good morning," she greeted him and gently clinked her teacup against his mug. "How was your day off?"

Draco noticed a warm smile spreading across his face as he thought of yesterday.

"Harry is back. I thought he wasn't coming until Monday, but they apparently got the job done faster. Anyway, he was suddenly standing in the hallway when I came home the night before yesterday."

"Ooh," Sarah grinned and wiggled her eyebrows. "Someone’s happy ‘bout that!" Her brown eyes flash cheekily.

"No comment", Draco replied and laughed.

He quickly tipped the coffee down and prepared himself for the handover with the night shift.

 ***

In fact, he managed to get off work on time at 4:00pm. He changed again and freshened up quickly. He wanted to apparate directly to Andromeda's house. Arriving there he rang the bell and heard the noise coming out of the house.

"That's Draco! Uncle Draco is here! I'll get it," Teddy's voice shouted behind the door.

Draco just had to smile. At that moment the front door was already torn open and Teddy ran into his extended arms. Laughing, he lifted the small, narrow boy up and pressed him against his chest.

"Happy birthday, Teddy," he called. "My goodness, you've grown up!"

Teddy squeaked and clung arms and legs around Draco. "Come! I want to show you what I got for my birthday!"

Draco stumbled a little clumsily into the cozy house with the boy on the side of his hip. He set him down in the hallway.

"Go ahead, Teddy. I still have to take off my shoes and jacket."

The boy ran like a whirlwind towards the living room.

"Draco!" His aunt had stepped out of the kitchen into the hallway.

"Hello, Andromeda. Thank you so much for the invitation."

They hugged each other. Only in the last few years, since he was with Harry, Draco had gained more contact with his aunt. As a child he didn't even know that his mother had a sister besides Bellatrix. She had been banished from the Black family after the marriage with the muggle-born Ted Tonks. The shame of marrying a "mudblood" was reason enough. As the grandmother of Harry's godchild, however, she was part of Harry's family and Draco and she had met. Even Draco's mother had finally re-established contact with her sister, whom she had always liked very much.

At that moment Teddy hurried back into the hallway and tugged at Draco's hand.

"You have to come with me, let's go, let's go," he exclaimed.

"Stop, stop, stop", Andromeda held him back. "Did you put your stuff away upstairs?"

Teddy nodded lively and showed a slightly too wide grin.

"Yes, I guess, that's what I thought." Andromeda had immediately seen through him and laughed. "Off upstairs with you! We had agreed that you'd clean up before the birthday tea!"

She looked after him and sighed softly. "He’s just like his mother..." She turned again to her nephew: "Would you take the pot of tea with you, my dear? The cake is almost ready."

Draco followed the noise and the laughter of the children and entered the living and dining room. He quickly put the pot on the table. Harry stood next to George at the window and chatted.

"Hello, my love," Harry greeted him and gave him a kiss. The black haired man wrapped his arms around Draco's hip and pressed against him.

George and Draco greeted each other with a handshake. "All the best again, George! How does it feel to be 30 now?"

"Well," laughed the redhead. "It was a bit hard to get up in the morning; that's every year. But the hangover the next day was actually worse than usual!"

Draco thought he knew that the first sentence was an allusion to Fred. It must be terrible to celebrate your birthdays alone now. But he decided not to go into it further. George seemed to be in a good mood and Draco certainly didn't want to ruin that.

"Well, I guess that's how it is at a certain age," the blonde laughed. "I'm really sorry that I had to work. But that was certainly better this way, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to nurse Harry up again the next morning. He was close to death."

George and he laughed when Harry Draco boxed on his upper arm and sulked.

"Hey!" Ron had stepped up to them, the two-year-old Rose in his arm.

With a shrug, he gave Draco to understand that he couldn't shake his hand because Rose was dozing in his arms. "She gets heavier and heavier. She's been sitting in my arm for an hour now. I can't hold her with one hand anymore."

It took Ron some time to finally accept that Harry was with Draco. After all, he had come to terms with it. They might never be best friends, but they got along well.

"Why don't you put her to bed?," Draco asked and gently stroked over Rose's brown hair.

"Then she starts whining," Ron sighed and rocked the girl back and forth a little. "At the moment she is terribly affectionate. "

"I know that from somewhere," Draco laughed and pointed to the smaller man who was still nestling by his side. "Let go of me, you limpet! I have to say hello to the others!"

He greeted Angelina, George's wife and Fleur, who had a lively conversation.

"You look good, Angelina! The color looks great on you," he said, looking at the light blue dress on her dark brown skin.

Angelina laughed slightly embarrassed. "Thank you very much, Fleur said the same earlier."

"Where is your gang of little rascals?" Draco asked.

"Freddie is out with Roxanne and Dominique. They found a bird's nest and have been sitting there for 20 minutes waiting for the eggs to hatch".

Fleur and Draco laughed.

"Bill has to work?," the blonde asked the French woman.

"Oui, ee's still at ze bank. At ze moment, ee's working an awful lot of overtime."

Fleur’s and Bill's daughter Victoire was only two years younger than Teddy and therefore the child of the Weasley family, which was closest to Teddy in age. Victoire was usually just as big a daredevil as Teddy. Victoire's younger sister Dominique at age three was just as old as George and Angelina's little daughter Roxanne. Her brother Fred was 6. Despite their age difference, the Weasley children and Teddy were always together playing.

Draco loved the huge Weasley family with all their children and grandchildren. He had grown up alone, never had anyone to play with, except for the nannies who looked after him. How often had he wished he could have played with other children, or at least with his mother? But she had to fulfill the expectations of the Black household and the authoritative Lucius and there was no provision for playing with her own child. Already in school he had known that the Weasley family had welcomed Harry like a son. There was no doubt that he belonged to the family. And since Teddy was Harry's godson, he was a Weasley, so to speak. No matter who joined the family, Molly took them all in. Draco had actually had tears in his eyes when he got a dark green sweater with a white D and silver stars on his chest for Christmas almost 4 years ago.

 ***

Draco looked around to see who else was present. He saw bushy brown hair and went over to Hermione, who was sitting on the carpet in front of the coffee table with a little blond girl and was drawing.

"Hello Hermione, hello Victoire!"

The two looked up at him and smiled.

"Here Uncle Draco, look!" Victoire held her picture under his nose.

"Wow, a dragon? Looks great!" Draco wondered. Normally Victoire was the type for unicorns and puffskeins.

The blonde girl beamed. "Uncle Charlie sent us pictures from Romania!"

Ah, that explained everything.

"How are you, Hermione?" Draco asked his friend.

She had taken him into the clique first, almost on the day he had saved Harry's life again and she had noticed how Harry talked about him. She had already known that it wouldn't make any sense to shut it up. It had been so obvious that her best friend couldn't forget the blonde boy after all.

"Very good, thank you."

Something about her smile was different, but Draco somehow couldn't lay his finger on it.

"How are you doing? How are your new trainees doing?

Draco didn't even get to say that he was afraid that almost all of them were idiots. At that moment Teddy came down the stairs again and stormed into the living room. Under his arm he carried a strange long board with wheels.

"Uncle Draco! Look what Grandma gave me!"

Draco took a look at the thing. It was an elongated board with rounded edges. The surface was black and very rough, the underside colorfully painted. Small rolls were attached to the four corners.

"What is that?," asked the blonde healer unsuspectingly.

"Merlin, do you live behind the moon? That's a skateboard," Teddy shouted annoyed.

"A – what?"

Hermione, who had been listening, laughed. "This is a skateboard. Muggle kids can ride it and do tricks and stuff. It's actually pretty cool."

"Actually pretty cool?!", Teddy repeated incredulously! "All my friends in the street have one! It is _absolutely super cool_!"

At that moment Andromeda came into the big living and dining room. She let two wonderfully smelling cakes float in front of her.

"Teddy, put the board away. You can try it after tea! Be a sweetheart and get Freddie, Roxanne and Dominique in. Then you all wash your hands and we can finally eat some birthday cake!"

Rolling his eyes, the little boy dashed outside. Meanwhile, Draco's aunt handed out a few glasses of champagne to the adults.

"Here you go, Fleur. Here. Hermione, will you have one, too?"

"Oh, no thanks. Um, so..." In the meantime, Hermione had joined Ron and looked at him. He still swayed Rose in his arm and grinned broadly.

Wait a minute... she didn't drink alcohol and... did that mean...?

"We have something to tell you," Hermione started with light pink cheeks. Everyone went quiet and looked at her.

"You're pregnant!" Draco blurted out.

Now everyone stared at _him_.

"Fuck, I'm sorry! But I just thought..." he stuttered embarrassed.

Hermine's cheeks glowed and she smiled. "You're right, Draco. We went to the doctor yesterday and... we’re having a second child!"

Bedlam broke loose. Everyone shouted in chaos and jumped at the two expectant parents to congratulate them. Harry pressed his best friend to him and sobbed unrestrainedly into her brown hair.

"That's so great, Hermione! How wonderful! I'm so happy for you!"

Draco patted Ron on the shoulder. "Congratulations, Ron. That's great news."

"Thank you." The redhead smiled. Rose had woken up in the meantime and rubbed her little eyes.

"Give her to me. I think the girls want to hug you, too," Draco said and took the little girl out off Ron's arms because Fleur and Angelina were already queuing to congratulate him. As every time he took one of the children in his arms, or snuggled with them, an unusual warmth spread through Draco. A mixture of happiness and contentment... and a little longing. The desire to have a family of his own had grown more and more in recent months. As a child he had never received much love and had all the more to give. He finally had to find the courage and talk to Harry about it.

His dark-haired boyfriend broke away from his embrace with Ron and smiled at him blissfully. Rose played with Draco's light blond hair and babbled cheerfully. Happily Draco pressed the little one to his chest.

 ***

"Come on, we finally want to eat cake," Andromeda shouted when everyone had calmed down and the children came from washing their hands. They all sorted themselves around the big table. The smaller children on the laps of the adults, because there was simply no room for all of them. Fortunately, the rest of the big family was not there. Ginny was a reporter for "Quidditch Today" and just touring the USA for the North American Championship. After school she had played very successfully for the Holyhead Harpies for some years, but then turned to writing at the age of 24. Her girlfriend Luna worked as a teacher for the care of magical creatures in Hogwarts. Charlie was of course still in Romania and Percy, whom Draco himself had only seen a few times, did not have so much contact with his family despite a reconciliation after the war. So he didn't come to Teddy's birthday, who wasn't a Weasley in the flesh.

Draco was about to sit down when Andromeda put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him aside for a moment.

"Draco, do you know what happened to your mother? She accepted the invitation, but so far I haven't heard from her," she said in a low voice.

"I have already asked myself where she is." Draco thoughtfully drew his eyebrows together.

"I had invited her last week. She was happy and said that she likes to come for tea. I'm a little worried..."

"Shall I floo to her? Maybe she just lost track of time or something." That didn't look like his mother at all, but Draco tried not to let it show that he also worried a little.

"That would be nice, dear. You can take the fireplace upstairs in the study. Then we don't startle the others."

Draco nodded. He was about to turn around and leave the room when a warm hand lay gently on his shoulder. Harry had got up and looked at him a little worried with his big green eyes.

"Darling, is everything all right?"

Draco tried to smile. "My mother isn't here yet, although she's confirmed. Andromeda suggested that I check on her."

A worry line appeared on Harry's forehead. "Should I come with you?"

Draco waved off. "Just leave it. It's certainly nothing. I floo to her and I'll be back in ten minutes at the latest."

Draco saw that his friend was not convinced. "All right, but get back to me if something happened!"

Harry pressed a little scratchy kiss on his lips. Draco disappeared into the hallway, avoiding Harry's attentive gaze. From the corner of his eye he saw that Hermione’s and Andromeda's eyes also followed him. Upstairs in the small study, stuffed under the ceiling with dark bookshelves, he stood in front of the fireplace. He found the floo powder in a small box on the ledge. He grabbed a handful and sprinkled it on the chimney grate. Green flames were already limping up. A strange flutter swept through Draco's stomach. Somehow he had a bad feeling. Draco once took a deep breath to calm down, then stepped into the fire. With a loud and clear "Malfoy Manor" he disappeared in the flames.


	4. Back Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING: Mentions of child abuse and parental violence! If you might get triggered by that, maybe read slowly and carefully or feel free to skip this chapter (or the last part of it).

**Chapter 4: Back again**

 

A little dizzy, Draco stepped out of the fireplace in the salon and patted the dust off his trousers. The room was empty, but immediately he heard little tripping footsteps. A small figure in a white tea towel scurried into the room.

"Master Malfoy?", asked the little elf with big eyes.

"Tabby, where is my mother?"

"Your mother, Sir?" The eyes of the house elf became even bigger and she seemed somehow nervous.

"Yes, my mother! Has anything happened?" Draco couldn't keep the tension out of his voice anymore.

Tabby, the house elf, kneaded her little hands and her ears began to tremble.

A queasy feeling spread through Draco's stomach. "What happened?", he rumbled with a deep voice and sparkling eyes.

"The mistress got a - a letter, Sir", Tabby shyly beeped.

"A letter? What is actually going on?" Draco was confused "Take me to my mother, Tabby. Immediately!"

The house elf nodded and tripped off on her little feet. Draco hurried afterwards. His palms were sweaty. What was going on here?

The elf ran through the entrance area and the protruding stairs up into the corridor with the master bathroom and his mother's bedroom.

"She's in here, Sir", whispered the elf, pointing at the door.

Draco swallowed and put his hand on the ornate door handle. Carefully he entered. It was dark in the room. The thick curtains were drawn in front of the high windows. Draco knew this situation. His mother often had had migraines in his childhood and then buried herself in her dark room and wanted absolute peace. Or she wanted to escape his father's bad moods and tantrums. Or she didn't want to hear Draco crying and screaming in fear.

"Mother?", Draco asked with a firm voice into the dark room.

In the twilight he thought to see a figure sitting in an armchair in the corner. Draco took a trembling breath and another step forward.

"Mother, it's me. I turn on the light now."

With his wand he lit a small lamp that flooded a warm light into the dark room.

His mother sat in the high armchair by the window, wrapped in a silk dressing gown. Her blond hair looked uncombed, as if she had only just got up. With a few steps of his long legs Draco stood in front of her. She didn't look at him. Vacantly, she stared straight ahead at the curtains hiding the high windows.

"What happened?" Draco's voice trembled and almost broke with fear. He hadn't seen her like that for a long time.

Something flashed in Narcissa's bright eyes and she shook her head slightly. The blonde leaned forward and laid one hand on his mother's cold fingers.

"Tabby says you got a letter..." he whispered gently.

Narcissa breathed in trembling and closed her eyes. Next to her on the armchair Draco saw a sheet of parchment. Hastily he reached for it. The letters blurred in front of his eyes and he had to force himself to concentrate.

 

_April 16th, 2008_

_Subject: Certificate of dismissal of Lucius Malfoy (registration number: 53721-M)_

_Dear Mrs. Malfoy,_

_We hereby inform you, as the next of kin, that your husband Mr. Lucius Malfoy will be released from Azkaban prison in less than 8 weeks one June 1st, 2008. We ask you to pick him up at the auror headquarter. If you are prevented from attending on this day, a relative with your power of attorney can also take over this task._

_With kind regards_

_Hamish Hamilton_

_On behalf of the prison directorate_

 

The breath got stuck in Draco's throat. Were the 10 years really over? His father would be released. His father - because of whom he had still wetted his bed until the age of 6. Because of whom he had suffered numerous bruises and scars. Because of whom he had thought for more than half his life that power and pure blood mean everything. Because of whom he was sent to a war to fight for a cruel cause and therefore still woke up sometimes at night, screaming and sweating. Because of whom he had hurt… and almost killed. The semi-dark room spun around him and Draco had to cling to his mother's chair in order not to fall.

A loud voice behind him made him flinch and spin around.

"I don't care if it's inappropriate, Tabby! I have to see Draco", a deep voice growled.

A second later the door was shoved wide open and Harry stormed into Narcissa's bedroom with a worried look on his face. The little elf hastily pattered behind.

"Mr. Potter appeared in the fireplace and demanded to see you, Master Malfoy. Tabby is sorry, Sir, she couldn't stop him and -"

Draco strangled the elf by raising a shaking hand and shooing her out. His breath was still faltering and he briefly closed his eyes trying to recollect. But a feeling of sheer _panic_ spread through him. He felt his knees tremble and he staggered and instantly two strong arms flew around him, holding him up.

"Damn, Draco! What's the matter? Has anything happened?" Harry shouted worriedly and pressed his boyfriend to his side. Harry looked from Draco to Narcissa, who only looked at him with an empty gaze, stood up and left her room with slow steps.

Harry grabbed Draco by the narrow shoulders and shook him slightly. "Now tell me what's going on! I was already worried sick when you didn't come back!"

Draco couldn't answer, he just couldn't say it. But already Harry tore the parchment out of Draco's clammy fingers and read at lightning speed.

Draco saw his boyfriend first raising his eyebrows, then furrowing angrily.

"Shit, they shouldn't have sent that out yet," the black-haired man muttered.

"What?" Draco asked in a trembling voice. His stomach felt as if he had swallowed a large block of ice.

Harry opened his eyes in shock as he realized what he had said. "Fuck, Draco! I -"

"You _knew_?" Draco's voice was nothing more than a whisper.

"I - _yes_ , but -" Harry stuttered hectically.

Now Draco's legs actually gave way. He sank to his knees and hid his face in his hands. Bitterness burned in his heart.

"Draco, hey! Please listen to me, darling!"

Harry had kneeled before Draco and pulled the blonde's hands away from his face. A warm finger lay under Draco's chin and forced him to look at Harry.

"Yes, of course I knew, Draco. After all, I work as an senior auror."

The blonde felt a single thick tear running down his cheek.

"They weren't supposed to notify you for another week. If only I had come home from the mission and been able to talk to you and your mother first! I didn't want you to be hit so unprepared."

Draco pinched his eyes together and pressed the trembling lips firmly on each other. Harry had said he would protect him from everything... Why hadn't he protected him from _this_?

"Draco, please look at me," Harry whispered quietly and took his boyfriend's face into his big hands. "I wanted to talk to you first before you got the message. I'm sorry it didn't work out that way. We'll manage. I promise you."

Draco dropped his head into the warm hands of his lover and felt a hot liquid rise in his throat. Big tears found their way through the long blonde eyelashes and Draco sobbed desperately as Harry pulled him into his arm and held him. With a deep voice he tried to calm the trembling blonde.

But Draco was just scared. How could they fix it? What were they going to do? What power would Lucius still have over him? Draco feared for his new life - for the life he had so laboriously built up and in which he was _finally_ happy.

"He can't harm you anymore, Draco. You are grown up and so much stronger than him. And you have so many people by your side who love you and protect you", Harry said quietly when the sobbing had subsided.

"What about mother?", Draco whispered back.

"We'll take this in our hands together. You are not alone, darling. We're all looking out for each other. What should Lucius do? He was 10 years in Azkaban... He won't hurt you anymore."

Draco nodded slowly. It was true what Harry said. But the fear was buried somewhere so deep in his subconscious that Draco couldn't erase the feeling from one day to the next.

Trembling, the blonde inhaled and wiped his wet cheeks.

"I'll take care of you, baby," Harry whispered again and pressed his full lips to Draco's temple.

How Draco would love to believe him...

***

Together they went looking for Draco's mother, who had withdrawn to the salon. Harry also assured her that they would make it and that Lucius couldn't hurt them either. He would deal with the matter immediately on Monday.

The black haired man convinced the two Malfoys to come back to Andromeda’s, after all they would all be worried. And so the three flooed back to Andromeda's study. She was already waiting on a chair in the corner and got up hastily as they stumbled out of the fireplace.

"Cissy, is everything all right?" she asked her sister, worried, who lowered her eyes and shook her head slightly.

"We're going down again. Then you two can talk in peace," Harry said to the two women, pulling a reluctant Draco back into the living room.

All heads turned to the two as they entered and Draco saw Hermione getting up, ready to ask. But Harry quickly raised one hand and waved off.

" _Later_ , Mione", he hurried to say and Draco was grateful because he really didn't feel like answering worried questions.

Teddy rushed towards him, the weird board with the wheels under his arm again. "Draco, are you coming out with me? I want to show you the board," he shouted excitedly.

Draco swallowed hard and tried an apologetic smile as another voice joined in.

"We're coming with you, Teddy!" George interfered and stood up. "Come on, Freddie, let's show your mother what we got!"

Fred laughed happily and pulled Angelina by the hand behind Teddy in the hallway. George winked at Draco, then followed the others.

Draco felt completely exhausted. He let himself sink into an armchair and laid his head back on the backrest. He stared grimly at the ceiling. Around him the usual bustle slowly began again. The other children also wanted to go out and play, the adults began to chat again. Draco heard Harry talking to Hermione, muffled and fast. He literally felt the looks of the two resting on him and closed his eyes.

Suddenly he felt a touch on his legs. With a sigh he lifted his head and opened his eyes again. Victoire stood in front of him, the light blond hair shining over her shoulder, like molten silver.

"Hey, Princess," Draco greeted her with a forced smile.

She smiled back and Draco took his arms aside so she could climb into his lap. She leaned sideways into his arm, her legs over the other armrest. Brisk she looked at him with her bright blue eyes.

"Draco?"

"Hm?"

"Are you sad?"

Draco blinked twice. "Yeah... yeah, maybe I am...", he murmured and rubbed his face with his free hand.

Victoire continued to look at him in a steady gaze. After a few quiet moments she asked: "Why are you sad?"

"I don't want to talk about it, Princess," Draco said quietly and noticed again how his eyes got moist.

Somewhat thoughtfully, the girl twisted her mouth. Finally she leaned her head wordlessly against Draco's chest and collarbone. Draco felt a few tears running silently down his cheeks. He wrapped one arm around the slender girl and felt her little fingers patting his chest sympathetically.

"You know what always helps me when I'm sad?", Victoire asked against Draco’s upper body.

“What is it?” Draco’s voice sounded low and heavy.

“My family.”

The young man laughed briefly and bitterly. And what if it was the _family_ that made him sad? But he could hardly say that to an 8-year-old child. He wiped his cheeks with his free hand. “Then it’s a good thing you have such a big family, Victoire.”

The blonde girl raised her head and looked at him in disbelief. “But it’s your family, too,” she shouted almost indignantly.

Draco needed a moment to process what she had said. A warm feeling spread in his stomach. Of course he knew that he was welcome in the Weasley family, but that the children saw him as one of their _real_ uncles was new to him.

“Thank you, Victoire.” A genuine little smile spread across his face and he embraced the girl. “And that’s a really great family.”

***

They said goodbye to the others quite quickly. Draco promised Teddy to try his board next time. They discussed with his mother that the next day after Draco's shift they should meet for dinner and think about what to do.

Harry took over the apparation and around 7 pm they landed in front of their little cottage. Draco enjoyed the peace and quiet for a moment and looked across the wide landscape. Again and again he tried to tell himself that he had nothing to fear, nothing would happen. But that was easy to say. The lump in his throat continued to swell.

"Are you coming?" Harry's voice shouted from the hallway and Draco broke away from the view of the hills and the lake and followed his boyfriend into the house.

"Should I cook a little something?" the black-haired man shouted from the kitchen.

"I'm not really hungry," Draco murmured as he stood in the doorway and watched Harry pour himself a glass of juice.

Harry raised an eyebrow and looked at Draco anxiously. He seemed even slimmer and paler. Harry quickly bridged the distance between them with a few steps and put two muscular arms around the slender body. Draco felt the warmth and the big hands slowly stroking his back. He clung to Harry's shirt at the back and inhaled his fragrance in deep breaths, trying not to tremble too much. Harry was his calm anchor, his safe haven and his lifeblood. Had he been told years ago that he would feel this way, he wouldn't have thought it possible, but now he couldn't possibly imagine life without him. They had both gone through hell and endured enough suffering and struggle for a lifetime before they even turned 20. But Harry had reassembled everything in Draco that had been broken for so long - and vice versa.

"You know we can do this, right?" Harry sprinkled little kisses on Draco's neck and cheek.

The blonde swallowed hard. "Harry, rational reason and emotional fear are just two different things. I'd love to believe you, but it's hard."

"I know, sweetheart, I know." Harry sighed and slid a strand of hair out of Draco's forehead. "We'll have to sleep on it tonight and then we'll see tomorrow, together with your mother. I can invite Hermione if you like."

Draco nodded. They would continue tomorrow. He felt exhausted and just wanted his peace. In the bedroom the blonde slipped out of his shirt and into one of Harry's hoodies. They were way too big, but they were incredibly soft and smelled so good of Harry. Draco buried his nose in the dark blue fabric and inhaled greedily. He sat down with Harry on the cozy couch and the black haired man watched some TV while Draco curled up on his lap. Gentle fingers drove through his blond strands and Draco tried to enjoy the tender touches and keep the fear away.

Almost wordless, they went to bed not much later. Draco would have a long shift tomorrow before he had Sunday off. Harry didn't have to come back to the ministry until Monday. Draco undressed down to his underpants, pulled an old T-shirt from Harry's closet and put on some thick socks. Normally he slept (if at all) only in his briefs, but today he was somehow cold. Harry shrugged as Draco shoved his icy hands under his shirt and curled up at his side.

“Sleep well. And don’t worry so much, baby. Tomorrow the world will look quite different again.”

Draco nodded silently and tried to lose himself in Harry’s soothing closeness and warmth. Sometime after a felt eternity (Harry was already sleeping with long deep breaths) his eyes fell close.

***

_Draco placed the knife and fork neatly on his empty plate with a soft sound. The house elves had once again cooked excellently. The dimmed light and the glow of fire from the impressive fireplace made the high dining room appear cozy. His mother at the head of the dining table to his left just took the last bite of her vegetables. His father at the other end of the long table emptied the last sip of red wine from the filigree crystal glass, the big ring with the Malfoys' family coat of arms flashed on his hand._

_"Well, Draco…"_

_The blonde boy sat up even straighter than he was sitting anyway._

_"I am delighted to hear that Severus has nothing negative to say about you. He says you've developed a talent for potions in your second year."_

_Joy and pride flickered in Draco's young heart and a small smile appeared on the narrow lips._

_"Thank you, Father."_

_"I wish that this would remain so." The threatening undertone in Lucius' voice had not escaped the boy._

_"Of course, father." Draco lowered his eyes again to the empty plate, which at that moment had been cleared by one of the numerous house elves._

_"Do the masters wish for a coffee or a brandy?", a small voice at knee level peeped at Lucius._

_"Both, Dobby. And bring it to the salon," the blonde man replied and rose._

_His wife and son did the same and followed him across the marble floor into the salon, where they placed themselves in three armchairs._

_Draco looked into the fire of the sweeping fireplace. He would love to go upstairs and read a bit. But if his father had decided to require his presence a little longer, he would stay here. His thoughts slowly wandered off. He longed for his friends. Spending the Christmas holidays at home was not much fun. Sure, the food here was certainly just as good, if not better, than at Hogwarts, but he was also alone again. He was a little pleased to finally get some rest from Crabbe and Goyle, those grandiose fools. They were helpful, but otherwise rather a nuisance. He rather missed Blaise's company. He wasn't only with him because he was a Malfoy. Draco's heart got all warm when he thought he finally had a friend - a real friend. And then there was Theo... For a moment, his thoughts of Theo's dark brown, warm eyes were stuck in his mind when his father's voice tore him out of his dreams._

_"Draco! Listen to me when I'm talking to you! I asked if there was anyone at Hogwarts you had an eye on? The Greengrass' girl seems to be quite nice. She would also be a good match for a boy like you."_

_Draco swallowed. The girl didn't interest him at all. She was handsome, but he didn't feel anything at the thought of her. Again Theo's dark eyes and laughing mouth appeared in front of Draco's mental eye and he felt a slight flutter in the stomach._

_His mother had seen his stealthy smile. "Oh, so there is actually someone?", she asked curiously. "Who is it, my darling?"_

_Theo's eyes winked at him. "He has such beautiful eyes..."_

_"WHAT?!"_

_Like a bucket of ice-cold water, Lucius' voice hit Draco's ears and the blonde boy gasped for air as the realization hit him. He had just done something stupid, something_ very, very stupid _._

_Lucius had jumped up, his face angrily distorted and horrified._

_"What did you just say?", he growled threateningly._

_Draco had to say immediately that it was an accident! That he had only accidentally said HE instead of SHE. But his throat was dried out. Draco shook his head with his eyes wide open. A wave of fear washed through his stomach and tightened to a solid knot._

_"Lucius..." he heard his mother's timid voice._

_The angry man ignored her. "Come here and repeat what you just said," he pressed out with clenched teeth._

_Draco's legs wouldn't move, he trembled like a leaf. With one step the father was at his side and tore him up by the collar. SMACK - his flat hand hit Draco's face with such force that his head flew to the side._

_"My son is not a_ fucking faggot _!", Lucius screamed madly._

_SMACK - another slap, this time with the backhand on the other side. Both cheeks were now burning fiery red._

_Lucius breathed heavily and Draco stared behind his father into the blazing fire of the fireplace. A little push, just a little push and then he would be free._

_"To your room."_

_"Lucius! Please - no!" Narcissa shouted in a trembling voice. She tried to hold on to her husband as he followed the narrow boy, but he shook her off angrily._

_It was quiet in Draco's room. Actually, there was no sound except for the wind that was blowing through the trees outside. Draco was also quiet. He knew what was going to happen. And he wouldn't scream._

_His father stepped through the door after him and locked it with a spell._

_"Take off your clothes." Suddenly his voice was no longer angry. Only cold as ice._

_Draco's fingers trembled as he loosened the buttons of his shirt and slowly pulled it over his arms. His heart fluttered like a captured bird against his ribs. But he wouldn't scream._

_"Turn around."_

_The blonde boy obediently turned around. His gaze was fixed on the dark green wall opposite. Behind him, Lucius mumbled the same words as always. A spell that extended his wand to a long, thin, elastic stick. A freezing shiver ran through Draco and he gritted his teeth._

_With a buzzing noise, the stick rushed onto Draco's slim back. Tears shot into the boy's eyes, but he didn't make a sound. It would be over in a minute. It never lasted long. It would be over in a minute. He wouldn’t scream._

_Another hit. And another one. "When I find out you're a little faggot -" Another sharp blow and a gossamer whimper left Draco's pale lips. "- then you wish you had never been born!"_

_His back burned like fire. It was almost over._

_"You are a disgrace! Slap._

_It would stop any moment now. Slap. Draco pressed his teeth firmly on each other. He wouldn’t scream._

_Another punch hit his maltreated back. And when Draco noticed the thin skin ripping open over his bony spine, he screamed._

***

Trembling and bathed in sweat, Draco awoke and sat up with a jerk. Someone screamed! Someone screamed so loud that his ears rang! It took two seconds for him to notice the hoarse, panicked scream was coming out of his own mouth. And it took another two seconds for him to silence and feel two big hands on his shoulders. Draco's breath went fast and flat as his eyes focused on Harry kneeling in front of him and shaking his shoulders.

"Draco! Draco, it's all right! It was just a dream! A bad dream!" His deep voice was excited and his emerald green eyes shimmered moist.

"A dream", Draco repeated and his voice broke.

Tears rose to his eyes and his stomach cramped. He began to sob. Harry pulled him tight. He felt the sweaty blonde hair under his fingers and tried to keep his own tears away so Draco could cry. Sometimes crying was the only thing that helped.

The black-haired man muttered soothing words in Draco's ear that he didn't understand. He could only cry and tremble. He was so _cold_. He felt as if something inside him, something that he had painstakingly fixed, had broken open. Somewhere inside of him was a leak in his well sealed grief, in his suppressed anger, in his hidden despair.

"C'mere, darling. Come under my blanket," Harry muttered, pulling the whimpering man even tighter. Draco's cold body touched Harry's incredibly hot skin and it felt like it was the only real thing in the world. Arms, legs, hands - they clung together like two drowning people on the high seas.

Slowly, only very slowly, the sobbing and the trembling ebbed away. Draco sniffled and wiped his face with his jittery fingers. Harry, _his Harry_ was still holding him. He distributed little kisses on the blond hair.

"It's all right, my angel. I'm with you," he muttered soothingly, but Draco could hear that his breathing also wobbled a little. "Do you want to tell me what you dreamed?" the black-haired man asked in a soft voice.

With his thumb he wiped the last tears from Draco's pale cheeks.

The blonde closed his eyes and buried his face on Harry's bearded neck. His heart was still beating up to his throat. In just a few words he told of his dream. It had been the first time that his father had hit him so hard that Draco had kept scars from it. He could still feel the thin skin ripped open and the blood spilling from the wound. Lucius had just left, leaving the trembling and bleeding boy standing alone. As soon as the door behind him had fallen into the lock, Draco's legs had given way. He had fallen to his knees on the dark parquet floor and had pressed his palms on his mouth to muffle his pain-filled groan. Sometime in the middle of the night, his mother had come into his room and had found her son crouched and crying on the bare floor. She had healed his wounds meagerly with trembling fingers and put him to bed. She hadn't said a word. Not a single one.


	5. In Desperate Need For A Plan

**5\. Chapter: In desperate need for a plan**

 

I don't think it's necessary to note that the night was over for Draco. He forced Harry to lie down again, who was getting tired at some point and told him that he just had to go to the bathroom. There he opened the tap on the sink and eagerly threw the cold water in his face to cool his swollen eyes and red cheeks. He didn't go back to the bedroom but made himself a cup of tea in the kitchen. Sammy, the black cat, purred along his legs and finally rolled himself together in Draco's lap as he sat down on the couch. A touch of moonlight shone through the window. He didn't need more light either. It was 3 o'clock at night. But he couldn't fall asleep anymore. He had to be at work at 7am anyway. Exhausted he let his head fall backwards and scratched Sammy absent-mindedly behind his ears.

After a while he heard bare feet tapping across the parquet floor.

"Slide over," Harry mumbled dozily. He took the cat from Draco's lap and placed his own head there instead. Sammy was a little offended at first, but then chose the small hollow between Harry's back and the sofa as his new place to sleep.

"Can't sleep anyway when you're not there," Harry muttered and cuddled his wild head of hair in Draco's groin.

"You can go back to bed, honey," the blonde whispered a little hoarse.

He didn't mean it that way. Harry's closeness felt so good.

"No way I'll leave you alone," Harry said in a firm voice. He fumbled over his shoulder for Draco's hand and laid it on his head. Gratefully Draco gently massaged the warm skin on his neck and let his hand slide under the collar of Harry's T-shirt to caress his shoulders. The black-haired man gave a pleasant sigh and leaned into the gentle touches of Draco's slender hands. It lasted only 20 minutes, then he fell asleep again.

Draco, however, stayed awake. He watched as the light became brighter and heard the first birds singing. His half-drunk tea had long since been cold, but Draco had no desire to spell it warm again. The blonde wondered if he should do some yoga to calm down and relax a little. But he couldn't get himself into that either. Actually, he just wanted to hide in bed and _stop thinking_. But he would have to go to work right away. And take care of the idiotic amateurs.

Draco took a look at the clock on the wall. 6:15 am. Carefully he lifted Harry's heavy head and pulled his legs out under him. The black-haired man mumbled something incomprehensible and turned to the other side.

Sammy followed Draco to the kitchen where he made himself an extra strong coffee and some breakfast for the cat. Together with his coffee he enjoyed a bitterly needed hot shower. It would be a long day. Wistfully he said goodbye to Harry and apparated to work.

 ***

He only greeted his colleagues with a short nod. Quickly he tipped down another cup of coffee and avoided Sarah's questioning gaze. He just didn't feel like chatting after that night. He felt nervous and exhausted. When the group of healers to be trained stood in front of him and waited for his lesson today, the blonde had to pull himself together, not to twist his eyes already.

"So, back to last week. Which magic potion ingredient and which wrong preparation were responsible for the fact that the patient in room 7 had grown blue fur from her ears?"

The group looked at their shoes abashedly. Everyone – except the young woman Draco had already noticed. She raised her hand and looked at Draco provocatively.

With a hand signal Draco gave her the word. A textbook answer shot at him and as he raised his eyebrow approvingly, the young woman smiled enthusiastically.

"Very nice. And very disappointing that _only one in six_ can remember a simple fact from last week. You always have to keep it rolling. Be informed about everything at all times and keep the overview. The young lady here is well on her way to acquiring just that. Would you tell me your name again."

"Holly, Sir." Her wild, black curls bobbed as she raised her head a little further.

Draco frowned. He had actually meant her last name, but well, so it went.

"All right. Holly, keep up the good work."

 ***

The day didn't and didn't want to pass. And Draco became more and more restless. It was incredibly hard for him to concentrate when his thoughts were only about one thing. He had to finally know how to deal with the dismissal. And the beginners seemed to be _really_ out for robbing him of his last nerve today. Holly was quite good, but couldn't compensate for all the stupidity of the others either. When they finally had a little excursion into the brewery of the hospital and one of these nameless idiots was once again about to throw a wrong ingredient into the cauldron, Draco threw a fit.

"I hope you're _not serious_!", he shouted angrily, running his hands through his hair.

His trainees froze in their movements and all looked at him with huge puppy eyes.

"Didn't they teach you anything?" He felt the accumulated anger. And he felt how inappropriately he yelled at the beginners, but he just couldn't change it. "Did nobody teach you what happens when you add armadillo bile as long as the temperature is that high? That's knowledge from the first semester!"

Annoyed and sighing, he pinched his nose with his thumb and index finger. He just wanted to go home. Slowly he got a headache.

"You know what? Take a 10-minute break. I can't see you right now."

With their heads lowered, the young witches and wizards left the brewery. Draco breathed heavily, leaned against the table and rubbed his temples. He had just fucked up. If one of the good-for-nothings complained, there could be quite a tirade from Ferguson.

 ***

Lost in thought, he rubbed his thumb over his left forearm. The dark mark, the skull and the snake, had clearly faded over the years, but he still hated it. He hated it from the bottom of his heart. But the ink was not the only flaw there on his skin. In the time immediately after the battle, as his thoughts drifted into the really dark corners of his memories, he had grabbed something sharp. Draco flinched when he imagined he could still feel the burning pain on his arm. He just wanted to _destroy_ it and made it worse. He hated himself for it. For the dark mark and for the fact that he had tried everything to eliminate it. Ugly, calloused scars now stretched across the light skin on his forearm and focused attention even more on the faded ink underneath. Draco avoided rolling up his sleeves and showing his disfigured arm when he was in the hospital. In the past he used to wear long-sleeved shirts anyway. Meanwhile he could deal better with his history and didn't have so much shame of the mark. It was part of his past and he couldn't deny it. But nevertheless it was often a painful memory of a part of his life he wanted to leave behind with all his strength.

When they slept together for the fourth time, Harry had first really consciously noticed the dark mark and the many scars on it. Draco had been with Harry at Grimmauld Place and had woken up when he had felt a touch on his arm and heard choppy breathing. He had been lying naked from the waist up next to Harry in this huge old four-poster bed. A strip of light squeezed through a gap in the thick curtains in front of the windows and fell right on Draco's outstretched arm. Harry's big hand had clasped Draco's wrist at the exact point where the cuts had slipped _far too deep_ towards the hand and he had pressed his forehead against the scarred skin. Thick tears dripped from his eyes as he sobbed softly. Also Draco's tears had shot directly into his eyes and his heart had contracted painfully as he too began to cry bitterly.

 ***

"Draco?"

A soft voice ripped him from his gloomy thoughts. He looked up and saw Sarah's round, brown eyes looking at him a little anxiously.

"Why is your gang standing in the hallway and doesn't look too happy?" Her eyes flickered attentively over Draco's face and down to his left forearm, which he was still clutching.

Quick as a flash, Draco let his hand sink and drove through his hair instead. He sighed heavily. "It could be that bawled them out because they behaved like the last rednecks.

Sarah's left eyebrow and left corner of his mouth shot up at the same time. "You yelled at the beginners?"

Draco rubbed his achy temples again. "Yes, damn it," he growled.

Sarah's vague smile collapsed. "Did anything happen?" she asked suspiciously.

She saw Draco struggling against himself. How he twitched and twisted, his face distorted.

Sarah crooked her head, stepped a few steps closer and pulled Draco wordlessly into a soft hug. Sarah was 15 years older than Draco, small and stocky, with big brown deer eyes and wavy brown hair, which she usually wore in braids. Draco had liked her immediately. She radiated an unbelievable warmth and security and she too had taken the slender blonde boy with sometimes too serious eyes straight to her heart. She quickly learned to appreciate his way of working and his enormous talent and, despite his young age, found him an enrichment for the ward. When she realized how sensitive and empathetic he was to the patients, she had basically adopted him. Somehow the young man had awakened mother feelings in her and she was happy that she could take him under her wing at first.

Draco allows himself to briefly close his eyes and surrender to the embrace. She only reached to his chest, but still her soft, warm body had something quite soothing about it.

"Now, I'll send the trainees on a little excursion to the ingredients store. Let them refresh their knowledge. And you come and have a cup of coffee with me and tell me what's going on," Sarah said with certainty when they broke the embrace.

The blonde man nodded.

After talking to Sarah, he felt a little better again. She had listened for a long time, often nodded and now and then rubbed his clammy fingers with which he held the warm coffee cup. The healer had shown a lot of understanding for Draco's anxiety and fear, but also assured him that he would find a solution together with Harry.

"You can always come to me if you want to talk. You know that, Draco," she had said at the end and Draco had nodded.

He had left his beginners all the rest of the day with the colleague in the big ingredients store. He would also be able to apologize later for his outburst. Draco now had to look after his patients again. He really tried to pull himself together and work as conscientiously as possible, but somehow it was incredibly hard for him to concentrate. Luckily, it was now the end of the day.

 ***

He apparted home and found a freshly cleaned house. Draco had to smile involuntarily. Harry could sometimes be quite a mess, but when he felt it (and when he knew he could make Draco happy), he threw himself head over heels into the chores. The blonde found his boyfriend on the patio, sitting on the edge of the large wooden table. In one hand he held a cup of tea and in the other a glowing cigarette. Harry had turned his face with pleasure into the low early evening sun and closed his eyes, so that he didn't notice that Draco stood a few meters beside him in the door frame and just looked at him. Harry raised his hand and stuck the cigarette between his full lips. Fascinated and with a beating heart, Draco watched the sharp profile against the golden sunlight, the straight nose, the angular jaw... The black haired man took a deep drag and slowly released the smoke from his mouth, so that a white cloud briefly covered his face. Actually, Harry was only an occasional smoker. He sometimes took one or two cigarettes when he was under stress, as he probably did today, or when he was drunk. And he knew that Draco actually didn't like it at all.

Draco took another step forward. Harry heard the noise and flinched. He choked. Coughing he waved his hand in front of his face and tried in vain to hide the glowing cigarette behind his back.

"Don't bother, Potter," Draco buzzed and the tone reminded Harry of the 15-year-old, arrogant Malfoy. But the smile on his lips belonged to _Draco_ , whom he loved so much.

"Hey, baby," replied the young Auror, eagerly and casually, leaning back on his hands.

Draco stepped up to him and stood between his legs. He bent over to give his friend a kiss - and snatched the cigarette from his fingers at the same time.

Harry raised his eyebrows in surprise as Draco stuck the cigarette between his narrow lips and dragged. The smoke filled his lungs and a fogged his head a little. He tilted his head back and blew towards the sky. Then he dropped the butt onto the stone tiles and stepped on it to quench it.

"Baby, that looked hot," Harry mumbled in a rough voice and Draco actually had to laugh as he was pulled into a deep kiss.

"I missed you," whispered the blonde as he finally detached himself from Harry's full lips and put his forehead to his boyfriend's.

"I missed you too. How are you?," asked the black-haired man quietly.

Draco shrugged with his shoulders, his forehead still leaning against Harry's. "Honestly? I don't know."

Harry sighed softly and took Draco's cold fingers into his warm hands. With gentle, calm movements, he stroked his thumb over his knuckles. "Wait and see. Tonight we'll all sit down and then we'll think of something."

"We _all_?" Draco followed up and now looked directly at Harry.

"I informed Hermione and Andromeda." The black haired man frowned. "I hope that was in your interest?"

"Yes, no - of course, fine. I was just worried for a moment that you had told the whole gang."

"Of course not!" Harry looked indignant. "I know you don't like to talk to everyone about it."

Draco nodded gratefully. "Will they all come to dinner?"

"Yes, they should be there in an hour. I cleaned the bathroom and kitchen this morning. Earlier I prepared the gratin, then all I have to do is make the salad."

A warm wave went through Draco. He laid his slim hand on Harry's bearded cheek. "Thank you."

Harry smiled slightly. "Nothing to thank for, darling."

Draco leaned a little forward and pressed his lips against Harry's mouth. He was soft and warm and tasted slightly of smoke. Tender fingers lay down on Draco's neck and gently massage the pale skin. Draco sighed with delight and opened his mouth slightly. With his tongue he gently nudged Harry's full lower lip, who immediately seized the opportunity and intensified the kiss. He heard a tiny groan leaving Harry's mouth as their tongues played with each other. Draco put his slender fingers on his friend's broad chest, feeling the trained muscles under his thin shirt. Their tongues played together, slowly and tenderly, and when Harry nibbled briefly on his lower lip, Draco gasped. Harry pulled him closer between his legs dangling from the table and held him tight. The blonde let his fingers wander into the chaotic black hair. Again Harry moaned softly. He slipped closer to the edge of the table and pressed his pelvis against Draco's hip. Draco felt the already growing erection of his boyfriend through his tight jeans and breathed in shuddering.

"Harry..." Draco mumbled against his lover's soft lips.

Breathing a little harder and with seemingly great effort, the black haired man detached his pelvis from his boyfriend. "Sorry," he muttered. "I - I just had a little longing for you. I can understand if you don't feel like it now."

"Harry..." Draco mumbled again and pulled the other closer again. "Sleep with me."

Harry blinked twice in surprise. "Are you sure? I mean... not that I don't want to, but - but you're not feeling well..." he stuttered.

Yes, Draco was sure. He needed Harry. He needed that love and closeness and security that only _he_ could give him.

Draco took Harry's face in his hands and pulled him gently towards him. "Please... please... please," he whispered constantly between the kisses they exchanged, and which became more and more passionate.

Harry pulled away panting. "Come with me."

By the hand he pulled Draco into the living room and pushed him down onto the couch. The young Auror leaned over him, put a knee between Draco's spread legs, and again he hogged his lips. Panting, Draco buried his hand in Harry's black strands as Harry's full lips slowly wandered down to his neck, tenderly biting his sensitive skin. He sucked at one point below the earlobe and Draco just thought he'd leave a purple stain, but he didn't care. He turned his head back to give Harry's fantastic kisses more room. Slowly, much too slowly, the black-haired man unbuttoned Draco's light blue shirt. His lips followed his hands and kissed every free piece of skin with devotion. Draco whimpered as he felt a cheeky nibble on his sensitive nipples.

"Fuck, Harry... please..."

He urged his pelvis up towards Harry. His cock was now pressing hard in his tight pants.

"Not so fast, baby. Just sit back and enjoy," Harry whispered against Draco's flat stomach and the blonde literally heard the wide grin in his voice.

With skillful fingers, Harry opened the button and zipper. Gently he nibbled on the soft skin over Draco's waistband, drove along one of the fine scars with his pointed tongue. Draco breathed tremblingly. Again his pelvis twitched upwards and Harry took the opportunity to pull pants and briefs over Draco's firm buttocks.

A slight groan escaped the blonde as his hard penis jumped out into the open. Harry was now kneeling in front of the sofa between Draco's spread legs. His open mouth distributed hot, wet kisses on Draco's groin. With feather-light touches his fingertips stroked across the smooth inside of his thighs. Draco trembled under the touch. Goosebumps ran across his spine as a bead of sweat ran down his chest. Harry grabbed the base of Draco's cock and pulled it closer to his mouth. His tongue leapt out and licked softly from his fingers around the base to the shiny tip.

"Yessss," Draco hissed and put his head in his neck.

Harry's hot tongue circled around Draco's sensitive glans, playing with the small slit.

"Please..." Draco gasped breathlessly and bent his back.

Finally wet warmth surrounded him as Harry closed his full lips around his twitching erection. Draco sighed contentedly. It felt so good...

In slow movements Harry let his head bob up and down and each time Draco's cock slipped a little further into the warm wet mouth until Harry finally poked his nose into the fine golden curls in Draco's lap.

"Oh God, Harry... anghhh."

Tormentingly slow, Harry continued, sucked and swallowed, making his tongue circle. Every time Draco's glans hit the back of Harry's throat, the blonde lifted his butt a little further from the sofa. His thighs were already trembling with effort. The sweat stood on his forehead and pleasure and contentment pulsated through his veins, rushing in his ears.

Draco gave a soft scream as Harry's fingers moved further back and massaged the sensitive area behind his testicles. His breath went fast. Yes, yes! So close... A bit more... He was about to explode.

"Don't stop, _please_ ," Draco whimpered with unstable trembling legs.

Harry hummed contentedly deep from his throat and sent small vibrations through Draco's dripping cock. With new ambition he increased his speed a little. But still he took Draco so deep into his mouth. Fuck, so deep!

"Yes, oh fuck", Draco moaned and threw his head into his neck.

He buried his hands in the pillows, so tight that his knuckles stood out white.

"Don't stop, please, _please_ , Harry, please don't..." he whispered breathlessly.

And suddenly he exploded with a hoarse scream. His hip twitched upwards, his legs trembled. His balls almost tightened painfully as he injected a huge load into Harry's mouth, who swallowed and swallowed, bringing Draco to the brink of madness. His vision fogged, turned white. The heart beat was pounding in his ears. And still Harry licked over his hypersensitive glans.

"Nnghhaa..."

Draco moaned and twitched. Fuck, fuck, _fuck_! He buried his fingers in Harry's black mane and could finally free his over-stimulated, still somehow stiff penis from Harry's sucking lips.

Completely exhausted, the blonde dropped backwards against the sofa tendon and closed his eyes. His breath calmed down slowly, and a pleasant feeling of dizziness spread in his head. He felt Harry get up and drop next to him. Sluggish and with closed eyes Draco fumbled for his boyfriend and cuddled to the broad chest.

"This felt so good..." he sighed contentedly. He gleefully let his fingers glide over Harry's upper body. "And what do we do with you now?" He stroked the prominent bulge in Harry's jeans.

The black-haired man suppressed a shiver and took Draco's stroking hand into his. Gently he kissed his fingertips.

"Well, considering that we only have 20 minutes left until our best friend, your mother, your aunt and presumably my godson, are standing on the doormat, I have to finish cooking and you have to shower... " He sighed heavily.

Draco opened his eyes. "No sex?"

Harry shook his head. "No sex." He stroked a sweaty strand from Draco's forehead. "Are you feeling better now?"

"Definitely!" The blonde smiled slightly. "It helped to let go for a moment."

He preferred to hide the fact that fear and nervousness crept into his veins once again. Instead he gave Harry a quick kiss on the forehead before the Auror disappeared into the kitchen and Draco went to the bathroom.

 ***

Just as he was pulling a sweater over his head, the doorbell rang. Draco heard Harry open the front door and hurried to come down as well.

It was Hermione, as always, when she was alone and didn't have to wait for Ron, 5 minutes before time. Harry pressed her against himself and the brunette witch smiled encouragingly over Harry's shoulder at Draco before embracing him too.

"Come to the kitchen," Harry shouted from the hallway. "What would you like to drink?"

"A glass of water would be nice." Hermione followed the black haired man. "Oh, that smells good!"

Harry had made potato and vegetable gratin and salad. The casserole was still sizzling peacefully in the oven and the baked cheese spread a wonderful scent.

"Hmm." Hermione bent over the large bowl of salad. "Have you prepared your famous dressing again?"

"Of course," grinned Harry. "Draco is still trying to figure out all the ingredients." He winked mischievously at the blonde, who in return stuck out his tongue.

It was true, Harry's salad dressing was so extraordinarily good that Draco kept urging him to tell him how it was done. But Harry always smiled mysteriously and shook his head.

It rushed out of the living room when Andromeda and Teddy followed by Narcissa appeared in the fireplace. Draco hurried into the room. Teddy happily jumped into the dining room.  His hair today was lime green. But Draco only lifted his eyebrow in surprise for a moment. His mother, on the other hand, looked just as tense as Draco felt.

They all sat down around the massive dining table made of honey-coloured wood. Draco poured wine into the adults' glasses, he himself definitely needed a glass. Andromeda held out her glass to him so he didn't have to lie half over the table and next to her Teddy stretched out his water glass to him with a grin as well.

"That's what you think!", Draco growled with a wink.

Teddy was pouting and stroking his green hair out of his eyes.

They began to eat and kept their heads above water with rather tense small talk. No one wanted to be the first to address the sensitive issue. Teddy gave them all a skeptical look in turn as he realized he was the only one who was seemingly jolly and cheerful. He seemed to be thinking about something. He frowned his forehead and the hair on his head took on a slightly darker colour, which he didn't seem to notice.

Finally, he asks in a serious voice: "Grandma, is this about Mum and Dad?"

Everyone looked up in surprise. Andromeda choked on her salad and coughed for a while until she could answer.

"Teddy sweetheart, how did you come up with that?," she asked worriedly.

"Because it's May 2nd soon and because you make the same face when it comes to Mum," Teddy muttered.

Andromeda was silent, completely perplexed. Finally Harry took heart.

"Teddy bear, listen. It's not about Tonks or Remus. It's about..." Uncertain, he looked at Draco.

Draco cleared his throat. "It's about my father."

Teddy made big eyes and thought again. "Is he dead too?" he asked after a while.

" _No_ , no, he is not dead." Draco felt a big lump and had to clear his throat again. "It's a little complicated. I will explain it to you sometime in peace, okay?"

"Is that why Aunt Mione is here?" Teddy asked and looked at the brunette. "Because it's complicated and she's the smartest of you?"

Hermione and Harry laughed briefly and Draco also had to smile. He loved this boy.

"Yeah, maybe," he replied with a wink. "And because you were so smart and found out, you can eat your dessert on the sofa and watch a bit telly."

Teddy's eyes sparkled joyfully. He glanced at his grandmother and as she nodded, he raised his little fist into the air in victorious pose and hurried to grab the vanilla pudding with raspberries and ran to the sofa.

 ***

Draco made a strong espresso for himself, his mother and Harry and a cup of tea for Hermione and Andromeda. When he finally had nothing more to do in the kitchen to avoid the inevitable, he let the tray with the cups float into the dining room and let himself plop exhausted on the chair next to Harry. He was so terribly tired after a night with only a few hours of restless sleep and the strenuous shift in the hospital. He would love to bury himself in bed. Harry's warm hand lay down on his neck and gently crawled the soft skin at his hairline. The young Auror didn't let go either when he started talking.

"Well, I don't think there's any point in talking any further around it. First of all 'thanks' to Hermione and Andromeda who came today to support us."

Hermione nodded encouragingly.

"Draco, Narcissa, I can imagine how you feel. I know what it's like to grow up in a household without love, but to experience as much violence as no child in the world should _ever_ experience."

Harry took a break and swallowed hard. His fingers in Draco's neck had stopped moving. Only the sound of the television from the adjacent living room was heard. Draco put one hand on the black haired man's thigh and pressed briefly.

Harry breathed in a little trembling and continued: "But I assure you that it won't be like it was then. You are stronger, so much stronger than Lucius! Lucius has spent the last 10 years in Azkaban, he has lost all his power and money."

Hermione raised her hand. Harry nodded to her.

"Harry, please enlighten me about all the formalities. Mr. Malfoy has no more access to his assets?"

Harry shook his head. "When he was convicted, he was denied all authority and rights over the Malfoy fortune. It all ended up with Narcissa and Draco, but a large part of it had to be given to the wizarding community as redemption. I inherited Sirius' share of the Black fortune and paid off Andromeda, Tonks and Narcissa. In addition, Narcissa had already decided years ago to sell some things from the Manor. You know, furniture, paintings and stuff. Therefore she can still live well in her house." Harry looked briefly at Narcissa to make sure that he had told everything right.

"So when Lucius is now released from Azkaban, he is completely destitute. Normally the prisoners are taken back into their families, or have enough resources at their disposal to start a new life. However, Draco and Narzissa are the only living relatives Lucius still has and they probably won't take him in anymore."

Draco snorted coldly.

"But..." Harry's eyes flickered nervously at Draco. "The wizard community is also a _social_ community and, in such cases, former prisoners are provided with shelter and a small monthly amount -"

" _What_?!" Draco shouted in horror.

"- so that they would have the chance to reintegrate into society," Harry ended his sentence.

Draco stared at him in bewilderment and shook Harry's hand off, which he had placed on his shoulder for reassurance.

" Are you fucking serious? That asshole? This motherfucker gets money and an apartment?"

"Draco," Narcissa said sharply. "Don't talk like that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Draco became more and more angry.

"He's still your..." Narcissa swallowed and lowered his gaze.

"He stopped being my father when he inflicted _these_ on me," Draco shouted furiously, tore his sweater over his head and turned his back to his mother.

Narcissa stared wordlessly at the white scars on Draco's spine. Her eyes shone wet and she bit her lip.

"Stop!" Hermione had jumped to her feet. "We can't get any further here if we start screaming at each other. We have to look for a solution together."

Draco had turned around again and looked at Hermione breathing heavily.

"Fuck," he exhaled and two thick tears ran down his cheeks.

Hermione sighed, "Draco, you put on your sweater again and go out on the patio with Harry for ten minutes. Andromeda and I will talk to your mother in that time." She raised her eyebrow severely and Andromeda nodded.

Still mumbling, Draco put on the sweater and stomped out of the room. He didn't even look if Harry was following him, but before he opened the door to the garden, he felt his big hand on his back and as soon as he stepped into the cool evening air, two strong arms snaked around him and held him tight.

Draco felt his anger slowly evaporate. Longingly he sank into the tender embrace.

"Draco?," Harry asked timidly.

Draco grumbled into his friend's warm neck curve.

"You know we have to try to be rational and logical about this, right? It's useless for you and Narcissa to be overwhelmed by your emotions."

The blonde grumbled something incomprehensible again, which Harry took as agreement.

"So let's just start all over again. I know it's hard, but we're miles ahead of Lucius."

"Harry," Draco mumbled sadly at his neck. "I just wanted to _forget_. I just want to have a nice life with you. Why does he have to reappear now?" The blonde's voice almost broke "And I want - I just want that my mother can be happy".

Harry drew him even closer to himself. "I know, Draco, I know that. But we can do it. We will be able to go on living our lives like this. I promise you that."

Draco swallowed hard.

"Come on, let's go back." Harry detached himself from his narrow partner and took him by the hand.

Together they went back in, Harry ahead and Draco behind him, his gaze lowered on his shoes.

He heard Hermione clearing her throat. "Well, Draco. Your mother wants to tell you something."

Draco's head shot up and he looked directly into his mother's wet eyes.

"Draco, my angel. I am so sorry. I'm sorry what he did to you and that I didn't do anything about it. Please forgive me. Please, I am so sorry." Big tears dripped into her lap.

Draco's heart cracked painfully. He felt hot tears rising from his throat. Somewhere in his body a dam broke. " _Mum_ ," he ejected desperately.

Narcissa also sobbed, he hadn't called her like that for many, many years.

Both Malfoys hurried towards each other at the same time and embraced each other desperately. Draco felt his mother's slender hands clinging to his sweater.

"I love you, Mum. I'm sorry that I yelled at you.  I know you couldn't defend yourself against him," Draco cried softly in her ear.

"You are my son, Draco. My dear, dear son. I should have protected you," Narcissa mumbled hoarse.

Draco took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "We find a way, Mum. We'll manage, yeah?"

Behind him he heard a sniff and knew that Harry was also brought to tears. Draco carefully detached himself from his mother and saw all the others wiping their eyes.

"So let's start all over again?", Hermine asked timidly.

They all sat down again. Draco interlocked his hands tightly with Harry's, clinging to his strong grip.

Harry first took the floor. He took a deep breath and said: "I can only say again that I am firmly convinced that we are completely superior to Lucius. He is released from Azkaban and gets a tiny room that is most likely far outside London. The money he receives from the Ministry of Magic is just enough for food and drink."

"What about all those people from the Ministry he bribed? All the people who worked for him?," Hermione asked.

"Either dead, in Azkaban, abroad or rehabilitated," Harry replied matter-of-factly. "Our department spent the years after the war smashing the whole big network of death eaters and supporters and I think we did a good job."

Draco tensed on his chair. He always got a little nauseous when Harry talked about "smashing the Death Eaters". After all, he was one, too. He was generally considered rehabilitated in the Wizarding World and Harry had even made him a respected member of the magical community through his status, but _still_... The faded and scarred mark on his forearm still told of his dark past.

"What do you suggest we do?" Andromeda asked briskly and poured a bit of milk into her tea.

"Narcissa, you got the message that you should pick him up at the headquarters, right?"

Draco's mother nodded with her lips pinched.

"Do you want to pick him up?," Harry asked carefully.

Narcissa's hands on the table began to tremble. "Do I have to?" she asked in a soundless voice.

"No, you can issue a power of attorney and someone else can pick him up." Harry's voice was calm and self-confident. "I wanted to offer that I could do it for you."

Draco's head shot up. He looked at his friend in disbelief.

"Don't look like that, baby." Harry chuckled. "After all, I am Auror. Damn, I'm Robbard's right hand. I'll be fine with him."

Draco didn't know what to say. He opened his mouth and closed it again, unable to express his thoughts.

Harry looked at him anxiously. A crease formed between his green glowing eyes. "Not good?," he asked a little anxiously.

"Yes!," Draco quickly uttered. "Harry, that's... I mean... You really want to do that for us?," he stuttered.

"Draco, _I love you_. We've been together for 4 years. I would do _anything_ for you".

Draco bit his lower lip to keep the tears in check that Harry's words had shot into his eyes. What had he done to deserve this man?

Harry smiled timidly and squeezed Draco's hand. Then he turned to Narcissa.

"Is that in your interest?" he asked the blonde woman.

Narcissa took a trembling breath. "Harry, it would be an immense relief for me. Thank you so much for that." She gave him a little smile.

"An excellent idea, Harry." Hermione nodded with zeal. "And how does it all go then?"

Harry turned to her and explained in a business-like voice: "Lucius is brought to the headquarters by an Azkaban employee. There he is given civilian clothes and all formalities concerning his dismissal are clarified. Then he is brought to the person who will collect him, in this case me. I will then bring him to the apartment. Former Death Eaters are obliged, after their imprisonment, if they have not been sentenced to the Dementor's kiss, to come once a month to the headquarters for questioning." Harry cleared his throat and looked briefly at Draco. "Draco is indeed the only exception, since he is the only one with a dark mark who has not been sentenced to imprisonment."

The blonde looked down on foot, but felt Harry pressing his thigh and Hermione putting his hand on his back, encouraging him.

Andromeda addressed her sister and nephew: "How are you doing with this solution?"

"Does that mean we don't have to worry about anything? We'll just try to ignore it?," Narcissa inquired and Draco heard that she was a little skeptical.

Harry raked through his black curls and nodded. "I think that would be the best and easiest thing for you. I don't think he's making any effort to get to you. Azkaban changes people, it breaks them. Lucius will not have the strength, let alone the possibilities. He can be glad if he can only live without dementors buzzing around him day after day."

Narcissa laughed relieved and buried her face in her hands. "I think I need a fire whiskey now."

Harry grinned contentedly and rose to get the bottle and glasses. He poured himself, Draco, Andromeda and Narzissa a glass, Hermione of course couldn't drink because of the pregnancy.

They toasted and Draco pulled Harry by the neck into a soft kiss. "Thank you for everything," he muttered to his lips.

He felt as if a huge stone had fallen from his heart. They could really make it. They could ignore it and just keep him out of their lives. Again heavy tiredness lay on Draco's arms and legs. Now that the tension had ebbed, he noticed how exhausted he really was.

"I'll go check on Teddy," he said quietly to Harry.

He found the boy sleeping in front of the TV. The empty bowl of his dessert balanced dangerously on his knees. Draco took it carefully and placed it on the coffee table. Then he turned off the TV and let himself sink into the soft cushions next to Teddy. With a soft moan he stretched his legs out. The narrow boy stirred a little in his sleep. Draco raised his hand and stroked his green hair comfortingly. Teddy hummed a little and sank to his side until his head lay on Draco's stomach. Draco didn't even notice how his own eyes closed. He also didn't notice that Harry and Andromeda came in after a quarter of an hour, stopped at the same time and looked at the two sleepers with warm, loving eyes. He also didn't notice Hermione and Narcissa saying goodbye and Harry helping Andromeda to use the fireplace with the sleeping teddy in her arms. He didn't notice anything until it swayed strangely around him.

"What's going on?," he asked in a drowsy voice.

Harry's voice was quiet and warm and so close that he could feel the vibrations of his chest. "Everything is fine. I'll put you to bed. Go back to sleep, baby."

Sighing, Draco snuggled closer into Harry's arm as he carried him up the stairs and slept soundly until the next morning.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! [Kudos ♥] and [Comments] highly appreciated!
> 
> New chapters will be uploaded every week!


End file.
